SPEECHES 


OF     THE 


HON.  HENRY  CLAY, 


OP    THE 


CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


BY 

RICHARD  CHAMBERS. 


CINCINNATI: 

STEREOTYPED  BY  SHEPARD  &  STEARNS. 

Wesl  Third  Street. 

1842. 


Entered  according  tc  th-3  act  of  Congress  In  th  3  jrea?  Eighteen  Hundred  $  Forty  one, 
by  RICHARD  CHAMBERS,  in  the  Office  it  the  Clerk  of  the  District  of  Indiana. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Biographical  Sketch, 5 

On  the  Line  of  the  Penlido, 15 

On  the  Bank  Charter, 24 

On  the  Increase  of  the  Navy,     ......  35 

On  the  New  Army  Bill, 44 

On  the  Emancipation  of  South  America,  ....  62 

On  the  Seminole  War, 87 

On  the  Tariff, Ill 

On  Internal  Improvement,          ......  130 

On  the  Greek  Revolution,           .        .        .        .    '    .        .  149 

In  Defence  of  the  American  System.        ....  156 

On  the  United  States  Bank  Veto, 205 

On  the  Public  Lands, 217 

On  Duties  and  Imports,      .......  248 

On  the  Compromise  Bill  of  1832, 262 

On  the  Indian  Tribes, 279 

On  the  Appointing  and  Removing  Power,        .        .        .  294 

On  the  Expunging  Resolution,           .....  308 

On  the  Sub-Treasury, 333 

On  Abolition  Petitions, 353 

On  the  Distribution  of  the  Proceeds  of  the  Public  Lands,  383 

On  the  Veto  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,         .        .  428 

Rejoinder  to  Mr.  Rives,     ....                .  445 

APPENDIX. 

On  the  Colonization  of  the  Negroes,         .        .        .  451 

On  the  Bank  Question,       .....  453 

Address  to  Constituents, 4gc) 

Speech  at  Hanover,  Va.     .        .             •  .        .  433 


M71848 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


HENRY  CLAY  was  born  in  Hanover  county,  Virginia, 
on  the  12th  of 'April,  1777.  His  father,  a  respectable 
clergyman,  died  whilst  his  son  Henry  was  yet  quite 
young.  At  an  early  age,  Henry  received  a  good  com 
mon  school  education,  and  was  placed  in  the  office  of 
Mr.  Tinsley,  Clerk  of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery,  at 
Richmond,  Virginia.  His  great  intellectual  powers  and 
gentlemanly  deportment  brought  him  within  the  notice 
and.  acquaintance  of  men  of  talents  and  worth;  among 
others,  Governor  Brooke  and  Chancellor  Wythe,  by 
whose  advice,  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law.  At 
the  age  of  20  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  soon  after 
removed  to  Lexington,  Kentucky,  with  a  design  to  pur 
sue  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

Mr.  Clay  soon  took  high  rank  as  a  lawyer,  although 
the  Lexington  Bar  was  then,  as  now,  widely  distinguished 
for  learning  and  forensic  eloquence.  He  early  exhibited 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  law,  and 
his  connexion  with  Mr.  Tinsley  had  made  him  familiar 
with  the  practical  learning  of  his  profession.  He  made 
it  an  invariable  rule  to  make  himself  intimately  acquaint 
ed  with  all  the  details  of  his  case,  before  the  time  of  trial. 
These  advantages,  added  to  his  forcible  and  perspicuous 
arguments, — his  masterly,  earnest  and  skilful  appeals  to 
the  passions,  rendered  his  success  rapid  and  permanent. 
His^practice  soon  became  extensive  and  lucrative. 

Kentucky  was  one  of  the  first  States  of  the  Union 
which  raised  the  voice  of  opposition  against  the  odious 
alien  and  sedition  law  of  the  Federal  party  of  1798  and 
'99.  Mr.  Clay's  devotion  to  the- great  cause  of  human 
rights  and  liberty  was  early  exhibited  in  his  eloquent  and 
fearless  denunciations  of  these  high-handed  measures. 
His  bold  vindications  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  the 
great  bulwark  of  American  liberty,  the  jjrace  of  his 
1* 


6  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

manner,  and  above  all  the  power  of  his  elocution,  pointed 
him  out  as  an  ardent  and  successful  defender  of  the 
democratic  party  and  its  principles.  Democratic  prin 
ciples  then  predominated  in  Kentucky;  and  through  all 
the  mutations  of  party,  this  State  has  ever  proven  herself 
stedfast  in  her  devotion  to  these  principles,  and  has  never 
faltered  in  her  course.  In  1 803,  when  Mr.  Clay  was 
only  25  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  to  represent  Fay- 
ette  county,  in  the  more  numerous  branch  of  the  State 
Legislature.  On  this  extended  theatre  he  met  Ken 
tucky's  most  eloquent  and  able  men,  and  soon  became  a. 
prominent  member;  in  the  course  of  a  few  sessions  he 
was  elected  Speaker. 

In  1 806,  he  was  elected  by  the  Legislature  of  Ken 
tucky  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  their  delegation  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States; 'and  thus  wras  this  young  plebeian, 
afterwards  known  as  the  Great  Commoner,  at  the  early 
age  of  29,  without  family  and  without  patrimony,  by 
the  energy  and  faithful  application  of  his  talent  and  ge 
nius,  and  through  his  unwavering  and  eloquent  support 
of  popular  rights,  elevated  to  a  seat  in  the  most  august 
assembly  of  modern  times. 

In  1809,  Mr.  Clay  was  again  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  In  1811,  at  the  expiration 
of  his  second  term  of  service  in  the  Senate,  he  became 
a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
nnd  was,  without  difficulty,  elected,  and  at  the  first  session 
was  chosen  speaker  of  that  body,  a  circumstance  unpar- 
allelled  in  the  history  of  legislation. 

Mr.  Clay  was  the  champion  of  the  Republican  Demo 
cratic  party,  and  supported  the'  administration  of  Mr. 
Madison  with  all  his  influence  and  brilliant  eloquence. 
He  early  discovered  the  necessity  of  a  war  with  Great 
Britain,  and  boldly  advocated  that  measure.  He  was 
foremost  in  devising  and  vindicating  plans  for  the  suc 
cessful  progress  of  the  nation  through  this  crisis,  and  was 
instrumental  in  procuring  from  Great  Britain  an  honora 
ble  peace.  While  absent  in  Europe,  on  his  mission  to 
Ghent,  he  was  again  elected  to  Congress,  and  declining 
from  Mr.  Madison  either  a  mission  to  Russia,  or  a  place 
in  the  cabinet,  he  resumed  his  seat  in  the  councils  of  his 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  7 

country,  the  representative  of  a  free  and  generous  peo 
ple. 

The  American  people  are  acquainted  with  the  subse 
quent  political  career  of  this  great  man;  and  to  give  in 
detail  a  history  of  the  various  measures  which  he  has 
projected  and  advocated  for  advancing  the  interests  and 
upholding  the  honor  of  his  country,  would  be  a  task  no 
less  laborious  than  to  write  the  history  of  the  United 
States  for  the  last  twenty  years. 

The  speeches  of  Mr.  Clay,  presented  to  the  public  in 
this  work,  contain  lessons  of  political  wisdom  and  expe 
rience, — the  extended  views  of  a  statesman, — and  em 
body  a  system  of  American  principles,  regulating  our 
national  and  internal  governments,  which  cannot  be 
found  collected  in  any  other  work;  and  which,  if  acted 
upon  and  carried  out  in  all  their  wide  provisions,  would 
elevate  this  Union  far  above  every  nation  upon  earth,  in 
air  that  is  beneficial  to  man, — make  its  citizens  indepen 
dent  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  ensure  to  posterity  the 
blessings  of  a  wise,  patriotic  and  truly  American  system 
of  legislation. 

It  is  considered  unnecessary  to  say  any  thing  by  way 
of  eulogy  or  praise  of  the  speeches  in  this  volume.  He 
who  will  read  them  carefully,  and  honestly  consider  the 
principles  they  advance  and  support,  will  be  the  better 
able  to  pronounce  a  correct  opinion  with  regard  to  their 
soundness,  and  to  the  merit  of  the  work  generally.  But 
fearing  lest  the  reader  may  pass  too  rapidly  over  a 
volume  so  truly  fascinating,  it  may  not  be  improper  to 
request  for  some  of  the  speeches  a  perusal  of  more  than 
ordinary  care.  There  are  men  of  rare  abilities,  who  are 
learned  and  eloquent  in  some  of  the  walks  of  literature 
or  science,  or  in  some  of  the  branches  of  political  econo 
my;  but  who,  when  taken  out  of  their  appropriate  sphere, 
to  which  the  thoughts  and  labor  of  their  lives  have  been 
devoted,  and  thrust  among  a  multiplicity  of  objects,  and 
engaged  in  various  pursuits,  lose  all  their  brilliancy  and 
intellectual  greatness.  But  Mr.  Clay,  like  Chatham  and 
Brougham,  is  not  circumscribed  by  such  narrow  bounds; 
the  grasp  of  his  mind  takes  in  the  universe,  and  possess 
ing  the  quality  of  untiring  activity,  is  ever  prepared  to 


S  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

attack  or  defend,  to  pull  down  or  build  up.  He  is  in 
politics  what  Eumenius  was  in  military  affairs,  ever 
foremost  in  defence  of  the  right  or  in  the  attack  of  the 
wrong. 

It  is  probably  true,  that  no  public  character,  of  the 
present  day,  has  paid  such  accurate  attention  to,  or  ex 
hibited  so  deep  research  in  the  early  history  of  our  di 
plomatic  correspondence,  or  so  extensive  an  acquaint 
ance  with  the  treaties  of  foreign  nations,  with  regard  to 
the  American  colonies  as  has  Mr.  Clay.  In  his  speech 
on  the  Perdido  Line,  he  goes  deeply  into  the  investiga 
tion  of  our  early  history,  and  traces  it  minutely  up  to 
1811,  when  the  speech  referred  to  was  delivered.  At 
that  time,  although  Mr.  Clay  was  comparatively  young 
as  a  politician,  he  yet  manifested  all  the  comprehensive 
and  far  reaching  sagacity  of  an  experienced  statesman, 
without  any  of  the  artifice  of  the  intriguing  diplomatist. 

The  speech  on  American  industry  is  a  masterly  effort 
of  intellectual  greatness  and  sober  patriotism.  The 
speaker  saw  the  ruinous  tendency  of  the  policy  of  our 
government  on  this  subject,,  and  with  a  mind  fully  imbued 
with  a  sense  of  the  great  responsibility  of  his  station,  he 
besought  the  American  people  and  their  representatives 
to  change  their  misguided  policy.  The  prosperity  of 
the  country,  immediately  consequent  upon  favorable 
legislation  on  this  subject,  fully  attests  the  clearness  of 
his  conceptions  and  the  correctness  of  his  principles. 

The  speech  on  the  Seminole  war  question,  was  deliv 
ered  in  1817,  and  should  be  read  by  every  American. 
In  it  may  be  observed  the  lofty  aspirations  of  the  patriot 
jealous  of  his  country's  honor,  mingled  with  manly  for 
bearance  and  generous  delicacy  toward  the  commanding 
officer  in  that  war.  Mr.  Clay  fearlessly  arraigns  the 
conduct  of  the  General  for  a  violation  of  orders  in  in 
vading  the  Spanish  territory,  in  disregarding  the  articles 
and  rules  of  modern  warfare,  and  in  hanging  prisoners 
of  war.  But  he  charitably  ascribes  what  he  conceived 
to  be  the  misconduct  of  the  General  to  a  misapprehen 
sion  of  his  duty,  rather  than  to  bad  or  corrupt  motives. 
Much  of  the  subsequent  abuse  of  executive  influence 
and  arbitrary  assumption  of  power  over  other  depart- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  9 

ments  of  the  government  can  be  traced  to  the  prece 
dent  given  in  the  Seminole  war.  If  Mr.  Monroe  had 
not  used  his  executive  and  cabinet  influence  with  the 
members  of  Congress,  it  is  almost  certain  that  a  vote  of 
censure  on  the  conduct  of  General  Jackson  would  have 
been  passed  by  that  body,  and  this  dark  spot  effaced  from 
our  national  escutcheon.  The  declarations  of  Mr.  Clay, 
on  that  occasion,  were  prophetic,  and  have  been  fully 
realized  in  the  subsequent  history  of  the  government:  it 
was  remarked  by  Mr.  Clay,  "  They  may  bear  down  all 
opposition;  they  may  even  vote  the  general  the  public 
thanks;  they  may  carry  him  triumphantly  through  the 
house.  But  if  they  do,  in  my  humble  judgment,  it  will 
be  a  triumph  of  the  principle  of  insubordination — a  tri 
umph  of  the  military  over  the  civil  authority — a  triumph 
over  the  powers  of  this  House — a  triumph  over  the  con 
stitution  of  the  land."  Executive  usurpation,— violations 
of  law,— corruption, — proscription, — insubordination,— 
and  profligacy  of  every  species  have  fearfully  increased 
since  this  fatal  stab  at  our  constitution. 

The  speeches  on  the  emancipation  of  the  South  Ameri 
can  provinces,  and  on  the  Greek  revolution,  strongly 
exhibit  the  universal  benevolence  of  a  true  patriot.  Ar 
dent  and  eloquent  in  the  cause  of  human  rights  and 
republican  liberty,  the  speaker  is  ever  foremost  in 
originating  and  successful  in  carrying  out  those  measures 
necessary  to  their  protection  and  establishment.  If  de 
feated  in  the  first  attempt,  he  falters  not, — he  settles  his 
principles  in  the  broad  foundations  of  truth,  and  his 
course  is  onward,  and  still  onward,  until  his  object  is 
achieved. 

There  are  some  important  measures  which  have  been 
discussed  in  Congress,  and  in  which  Mr.  Clay  has  taken 
a  distinguished  and  leading  part,  upon  which  his  speeches 
or  views  have  never  been  published:  such,  for  instance, 
as  his  speech  in  1816,  on  the  bank  question,  and  his 
speech  on  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  Union, 
In  a  speech  delivered  in  Kentucky,  Mr.  Clay  remarked 
that  his  bank  speech  of  1816,  had  never  been  published 
for  reasons  unknown  to  him.  No  efforts  have  been 
spared  to  procure  a  copy  of  the  speech  on  the  Missouri 


10  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

question;  but  it  cannot  be  found.  When  that  question 
threatened  to  dissolve  the  Union,  when  the  angry  waves 
of  political  contention  were  lashed  into  storm,  all  eyes 
were  turned  toward  Henry  Clay,  as  the  only  man  in  the 
nation  who  could  calm  the  troubled  ocean  of  human 
passion  and  interest.  The  great  commoner,  greatest,  in 
a  great  emergency,  appeared;  poured  the  oil  of  his  elo 
quence  and  wisdom  upon  the  waters,  and  all  was  quiet 
ness, — through  his  influence  this  vexed  and  dangerous 
question  was  safely  and  peaceably  settled. 

Mr.  Clay's  unwavering  devotion  to  the  interest  of  his 
country  and  great  firmness  were  nevermore  conspicuous 
than  iii  his  defence  of  our  Navy.  At  the  time  he  came 
forward  as  an  advocate  for  an  increase  of  the  navy,  the 
measure  was  unpopular;  but  believing  that  the  safety  of 
our  common  country  demanded  an  increase  of  this  arm 
of  the  national  defence,  he  hesitated  not,  but  patiently 
and  fearlessly  contended  for  its  adoption. 

Another  public  measure,  and  one  of  great  importance, 
which  has  lately  been  consummated,  is  the  distribution 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among  the  several 
States.  The  success  of  this  project  is  almost  entirely 
owing  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Clay;  his  untiring  zeal,  una 
bated  ardor  and  deep  devotion  to  the  interest  of  the  peo 
ple,  knew  no  discouragements  or  disappointments;  and 
although  defeated  by  the  President  on  one  occasion,  he 
still  nobly  continued  to  press  this  subject  on  the  atten 
tion  of  the  people  and  their  representatives,  until  he 
finally  accomplished  his  object  at  the  late  extra  session. 
And  now,  while  credit  and  confidence,  national  and  in 
dividual,  are  most  seriously  impaired,  the  whole  Union 
will  feel  the  beneficial  and  salutary  effects  of  this  policy. 

Mr.  Clay  has  also  been  the  consistent  advocate  of  a 
wise  and  economical  system  of  Internal  Improvement 
by  the  general  government;  the  abandonment  of  which 
has  induced  that  wild  and  improvident  spirit  of  State 
legislation,  resulting  in  a  total  prostration  of  credit,  and 
leaving  many  of  the  States  bankrupt  in  character  and  for 
tune, — paralizing  their  energies  and  breaking  the  bonds  of 
political  and  social  life.  As  a  branch  of  the  improvement 
policy  advocated  by  Mr.  Clay,  we  may  mention  the  Cum- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  11 

berland  Road,  a  work  which  is  more  important  and  bene 
ficial  to  the  western  country  and  to  western  interest,  than 
any  other  single  measure  of  the  national  government;  and 
so  long  as  this  road  continues  to  be  the  great  thoroughfare 
from  east  to  west,  and  the  highway  of  the  Union,  so  long 
will  it  be  the  appropriate  monument  of  his  wise  and  ear 
nest  devotion  to  the  good  of  the  whole  nation. 

The  reader's  attention  is  directed  to  the  speech  on  the 
Expunging  resolutions.  When  Mr.  Benton  introduced 
into  the  American  senate  his  expunging  resolutions,  and 
asked  that  body  to  obliterate  and  deface  the  journal 
of  its  own  proceedings,  which  the  constitution  had  de 
clared  should  remain  inviolate;  when  an  American  states 
man  sought  the  violation  of  that  instrument,  which  had 
given  him  his  political  existence  and  continued  his  poli 
tical  life, — the  great  defender  of  constitutional  liberty 
was  indignant,  and  poured  forth  a  torrent  of  patriotic 
eloquence  and  convincing  argument,  which  none  could 
answer,  and  which  none  could  withstand,  but  those  who 
had  sworn  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  old  Roman,  by  a 
desecration  of  the  ark  of  our  political  freedom. 

Mr.  Clay's  speech  on  the  Sub-Treasury  bill  is  another 
manifestation  of  his  devotion  to  popular  rights  and  a  gov 
ernment  of  the  people.  After  one  act  of  executive 
usurpation  had  followed  another  until  many  of  the  nicely 
adjusted  balances  and  checks  of  our  government  had 
become  deranged,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  presented  to 
Congress  his  far-famed  Sub-Treasury  scheme,  and  which 
if  securely  established  and  made  a  part  of  our  policy, 
would  have  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive  both 
the  purse  and  the  sword,  and  made  our  government  a 
despotism;  on  this  occasion  the  warning  voice  of  Mr. 
Clay  was  heard  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  opposing 
this  daring  scheme  of  ambition,  portraying  with  a  mas 
terly  hand  the  odious  and  oppressive  features  of  this 
measure,  and  exhibiting  it  to  his  countrymen  in  all  its 
hideous  deformity. 

And  thus  it  has  been,  that  through  the  entire  political 
career  of  Mr.  Clay,  he  has  ever  proved  himself  the  sted- 
fast  and  efficient  friend  and  champion  of  free  govern 
ment  and  human  liberty  throughout  the  world;  the  de- 


12  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

fender  of  constitutional  freedom  and  democratic  princi 
ples;  the  advocate  of  an  economical  administration  of  the 
general  government;  an  enemy  to  executive  usurpation, 
tyranny  and  proscription;  in  favor  of  protecting  our  com 
merce,  agriculture,  domestic  manufactures  and  home  in 
dustry;  the  advocate  of  a  national  currency  which  shall 
equalize  the  exchanges  and  afford  to  all  classes  in  our 
widely  extended  country,  a  sound  and  convenient  cir 
culating  medium  for  all  the  diversified  transactions  and 
business  of  life;  in  favor  of  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  United  States;  the  avenger  of  the  wrongs  of  the 
Indian;  the  faithful  and  zealous  supporter  and  friend  of 
the  whole  Union,  and  wherever  or  whenever  disunion 
or  anarchy  have  presented  themselves,  threatening  to 
dissolve  the  government,  Leonidas  like,  regardless  of  dan 
ger,  and  thinking  only  of  the  constitution  and  its  safety, 
he  throws  himself  into  the  breach,  and  has  rescued  re 
peatedly  the  noble  fabric  of  our  government  from  im 
pending  peril  and  dissolution;  has  extorted  from  the  pres 
ent  generation  a  character,  which  posterity  will  proudly 
seal  with  their  approval,  that  of  the  GREAT  PACIFICATOR. 


CLAY'S    SPEECHES. 


SPEECHES,  ETC. 


ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  PERDIDO. 

Speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  on  the  subject  of  the 
Territory  'west  of  the  Perdido,  delivered  25th  December,  1810. 

MR.  PRESIDENT, 

IT  would  have  gratified  me  if  some  other  gentleman  had  un 
dertaken  to  reply  to  the  ingenious  argument,  which  you  have 
just  heard.  (Speech  of  Mr.  Horsey.)  But  not  perceiving  any 
one  disposed  to  do  so,  a  sense  of  duty  obliges  me,  though  very 
unwell,  to  claim  your  indulgence,  whilst  I  offer  my  sentiments  on 
thjs  subject,  so  interesting  to  the  union  at  large,  but  especially 
to  the  western  portion  of  it.  Allow  me,  sir,  to  express  my  admi 
ration  at  the  more  than  Aristidean  justice,  which  in  a  question 
of  territorial  title,  between  the  United  States  and  a  foreign  na 
tion,  induces  certain  gentlemen  to  esjpouse  the  pretensions  of  the 
foreign  nation.  Doubtless  in  any  future  negotiations,  she  will 
have  too  much  magnanimity  to  avail  herself  of  these  spontane 
ous  concessions  in  her  favor,  made  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States. 

It  was  to  have  been  expected  that  in  a  question  like  the  pre 
sent,  gentlemen,  even  on  the  same  side,  would  have  different 
views,  and  although  arriving  at  a  common  conclusion,  would  do 
so  by  various  arguments.  And  hence  the  honorable  gentleman 
from  Vermont,  entertains  doubt  with  regard  to  our  title  against 
Spain,  whilst  he  feels  entirely  satisfied  of  it  against  France.  Be 
lieving,  as  I  do,  that  our  title  against  both  powers  is  indisputable, 
under  the  treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  between  Spain  and  France,  and 
the  treaty  between  the  French  Republic  and  the  United  States, 
I  shall  not  inquire  into  the  treachery,  by  which  the  king  of  Spain 
is  alleged  to  have  lost  his  crown ;  nor  shall  I  stop  to  discuss  the 
question  involved  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Spanish  monarchy, 
and  how  far  the  power  of  Spain  ought  to  be  considered  as  merg 
ed  in  that  of  France.  I  shall  leave  the  honorable  gentleman 
from  Delaware  to  mourn  over  the'.fortunes  of  the  fallen  Charles. 
I  have  no  commiseration  for  princes.  My  sympathies  are  reserv 
ed  for  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  and  I  own  that  the  people  of 
Spain  have  them  most  sincerely. 


16  ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  PERDIDO. 

I  will  adopt  the  course  suggested  by  the  nature  of  the  subject 
and  pursued  by  other  gentlemen,  of  examining  into  our  title  to 
the  country  lying  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Rio  Perdido, 
(which  to  avoid  circumlocution,  I  will  call  West  Florida,  although 
it  is  not  the  whole  of  it)  and  the  propriety  of  the  recent  measures 
taken  for  the  occupation  of  that  territory.  Our  title,  then,  de 
pends,  first,  upon  the  limits  of  the  province,  or  colony  of  Louisi 
ana,  and  secondly,  upon  a  just  exposition  of  the  treaties  before 
mentioned. 

On  this  occasion  it  is  only  necessary  to  fix  the  eastern  bound 
ary.  In  order  to  ascertain  this,  it  will  be  proper  to  take  a  cur 
sory  view  of  the  settlement  of  the  country,  because  the  basis  of 
European  title  to  colonies  in  America,  is  prior  discovery,  or  prior 
occupancy.  In  1682,  La  Salle  migrated  from  Canada,  then 
owned  by  France,  descended  the  Mississippi,  and  named  the 
country  which  it  waters,  Louisiana.  About  1698,  D'Iberville  dis 
covered  by  sea,  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  established  a  colo 
ny  at  the  Isle  Dauphine,  or  Massacre,  which  lies  at  the  mouth 
of  the  bay  of  Mobile,  and  one  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Mobile, 
and  was  appointed  by  France,  governor  of  the  country.  In  the 
year  1717,  the  famous  West  India  company  sent  inhabitants  to 
the  Isle  Dauphine,  and  found  some  of  those  who  had  been  set 
tled  there  under  the  auspices  of  D'Iberville.  About  the  same 
period,  Baloxi,  near  the  Pascagoula,  was  settled.  In  1719,  the 
city  of  New  Orleans  was  laid  off,  and  the  seat  of  government*of 
Louisiana  was  established  there  j  and  in  1736,  the  French  erected 
a  fort  on  the  Tombigbee.  These  facts  prove  that  France  had 
the  actual  possession  of  the  country  as  far  east  as  the  Mobile  at 
least.  But  the  great  instrument  which  ascertains,  beyond  all 
doubt,  that  the  country  in  question  is  comprehended  within  the 
limits  of  Louisiana,  is  one  of  the  most  authentic  and  solemn 
character  which  the  archives  of  a  nation  can  furnish ;  I  mean 
the  patent  granted  in  1712,  by  Louis  XIV,  to  Crozat — [Here 
Mr.  C.  read  such  parts  of  the  patent  as  were  applicable  to  the 
subject.*]  According  to  this  document,  in  describing  the  pro- 

*  Extract  from  the  Grant  to  Crozat,  dated  at 

"  Fontainbleu,  Sept.  14,  1712 
"  Louis,  By  the  grace  of  God,  &c. 

"  The  care  we  have  always  had  to  procure  the  welfare  and  advantage  of  our  sub 
jects,  having  induced  us,  &c.  to  seek  for  all  possible  opportunities  of  enlarging  and 
extending  the  trade  of  our  American  colonies,  we  did,  in  the  year  1683,  give  our  or 
ders  to  undertake  a  discovery  of  the  countries  and  lands  which  are  situated  in  the 
northern  part  of  America,  between  New  France  and  New  Mexico ;  and  the  Sieur  de 
la  Salle,  to  whom  we  committed  that  enterprise,  having  had  success,  enough  to  con 
firm  a  belief  that  a  communication  might  be  settled  from  Neio  France  to~the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  by  means  of  large  rivers,  ibis  obliged  us,  immediately  after  the  peace  of 
Kyswic,  to  give  orders  for  establishing  a  colony  there,  and  maintaining  a  garrison, 
which  has  kept  and  preserved  the  possession  we  had  taken  in  the  very  year  1683, 
of  the  lands,  coasts,  and  islands  which  are  situated  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  between 
Carolina  on  the  east,  and  Old  and  New  Mexico  on  the  west.  'But  a  new  war  having 
broke  out  in  Europe  shortly  after,  there  was  no  possibility,  till  now,  of  reaping  from  thai 
Colony  the  advantages  that  might  have  been  expected  from  thence,  &c.  And  where 
as,  upon  the  information  we  have  received  concerning  the  disposition  and  situation  of 
the  said  countries,  known  at  present  by  the  name  of  the  Province  of  Louisiana,  we 
are  of  opinion,  that  there  may  be  established  therein  considerable  commerce,  &c- 


ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  PERDIDO.  17 

vince,  or  colony  of  Louisiana,  it  is  declared  to  be  bounded  by 
Carolina  on  the  east,  and  Old  and  New  Mexico  on  the  west. 
Under  this  high  record  evidence,  it  might  be  insisted  that  we  have 
a  fair  claim  to  East  as  well  as  West  Florida,  against  France  at 
least,  unless  she  has  by  some  convention,  or  other  obligatory  act, 
restricted  the  eastern  limit  of  the  province.  It  has,  indeed,  been 
asserted  that  by  a  treaty  between  France  and  Spain,  concluded 
in  the  year  1719,  the  Perdido  was  expressly  stipulated  to  be  the 
boundary  between  their  respective  provinces  of  Florida  on  the 
East,  and  Louisiana  on  the  West ;  but  as  I  have  been  unable  to 
find  any  such  treaty,  I  am  induced  to  doubt  its  existence. 

About  the  same  period,  to-wit:  towards  the  close  of  the  seven 
teenth  century,  when  France  settled  the  Isle  Dauphine,  and  the 
Mobile,  Spain  erected  a  fort  at  Pcnsacola.  But  Spain  never 
pushed  her  actual  settlements,  or  conquests,  farther  west  than 
the  bay  of  Pensacola,  whilst  those  of  the  French  were  bounded 
an  the  east  by  the  Mobile.  Between  those  two  points,  a  space 
of  about  thirteen  or  fourteen  leagues,  neither  nation  had  the  ex 
clusive  possession.  The  Rio  Perdido,  forming  the  bay  of  the 
same  name,  discharges  itself  into  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  between 
the  Mobile  and  Pensacola,  and,  being  a  natural  and  the  most 
notorious  object  between  them,  presented  itself  as  a  suitable 
boundary  between  the  possessions  of  the  two  nations.  It  accor 
dingly,  appears  very  early  to  have  been  adopted  as  the  boundary 
by  tacit,  if  not  expressed,  consent.  The  ancient  charts  and  his 
torians,  therefore,  of  the  country,  so  represent  it.  Dupratz,  one 
of  the  most  accurate  historians  of  the  time,  in  point  of  fact  and 
detail,  whose  work  was  published  as  early  as  1758,  describes  the 
coast  as  being  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Rio  Perdido.  In 
truth,  sir,  no  European  nation  whatever,  except  France,  ever  oc 
cupied  any  portion  of  west  Florida,  prior  to  her  ce?sion  of  it  to 
England  in  1762.  The  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  do  not,  in 
deed,  strongly  controvert,  if  they  do  not  expressly  admit,  that 
Louisiana,  aVheld  by  the  French  anterior  to  her  cessions  of  it  in 
1762,  extended  to  the  Perdido.  The  only  observation  made  by 
the  gentleman  from  Delaware  to  the  contrary,  to-wit:  that  the 
island  of  New  Orleans  being  particularly  mentioned,  could  not, 

we  have  resolved  to  grant  the  commerce  of  the  country  of  Louisiana  to  the  Sieur  An- 
thony  Crozat,  &c.  For  these  reasons,  &c.,  we,  by  these  presents,  signed  by  our  hand, 
have  appointed  and  do  appoint  the  said  Sieur  Crozat,  to  carry  on  a  trade  in  all  the 
lands  possessed  by  us,  and  bounded  by  New  Mexico  and  by  the  lands  of  the  English 
of  Carolina,  all  the  establishments,  ports,  havens,  rivers,  and  principally  the  port 
and  haven  of  the  Isle  Dauphine,  heretofore  called  Massacre  ;  the  river  of  St.  Louis, 
heretofore  called  Mississippi,  from  the  edge  of  the  sea  as  far  as  the  Illinois,  together 
•with  the  river  St.  Philip,  heretofore  called  the  Missouri,  and  of  St  Jerome,  heretofore 
called  Onabache,  with  all  the  countries,  territories,  and  lakes  within  land,  and  the 
rivers  which  fall  directly  or  indirectly  into  that  part  of  the  river  St.  Louis. 

The  Articles— I.  Our  pleasure  is,"that  all  the  aforesaid  lands,  countries,  streams, 
rivers,  and  islands  be,  and  remain  comprised  under  the  name  of  the  government  of 
Louisiana,  which  shall  be  dependent  upon  the  general  government  of  New  France, 
to  which  it  is  subordinate  :  and  further,  that  all  the  lands  which  we  possess  from  the 
Illinois,  be  united,  &c.  to  the  general  government  of  .New  France,  and  become  part 
thereof,  &c." 

2* 


18  ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  PERDIDO. 

for  that  reason,  constitute  a  part  of  Louisiana,  is  susceptible  of  a 
very  satisfactory  answer.  That  island  was  excepted  out  of  the 
grant  to  England,  and  was  the  only  part  of  the  province  east  of 
the  river  that  was  so  excepted.  It  formed  in  itself  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  important  objects  of  the  cession  to  Spain 
originally,  and  was  transferred  to  her  with  the  portion  of  the  pro 
vince  west  of  the  Mississippi.  It  might  with  equal  propriety,  be 
urged  that  St.  Augustine  is  not  in  East  Florida,  because  St.  Au 
gustine  is  expressly  mentioned  by  Spain  in  her  cession  of  that 
province  to  England.  From  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  think  it 
results  that  the  province  of  Louisiana  comprised  West  Florida 
previous  to  the  year  1762. 

What  was  done  with  it  at  this  epoch?  By  a  secret  conven 
tion,  of  the  3d  of  November,  of  that  year,  France  ceded  the  coun 
try  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi,  arid  the  island  of  New  Orleans, 
to  Spain ;  and  by  a  contemporaneous  act,  the  articles  preliminary 
to  the  definitive  treaty  of  1763,  she  transferred  West  Florida  to 
England.  Thus  at  the  same  instant  of  time,  she  alienated  the 
whole  province.  Posterior  to  this  grant,  Great  Britain  having 
also  acquired  from  Spain  her  possessions  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
erected  the  country  into  two  provinces,  East  and  West  Florida. 
In  this  state  of  things  it  continued  until  the  peace  of  1783.  when 
Great  Britain,  in  consequence  of  the  events  of  the  war,  surren 
dered  the  country  to  Spain,  who  for  the  first  time,  came  into  ac 
tual  possession  of  West  Florida.  Well,  sir,  how  does  she  dispose 
of  it?  She  re-annexes  it  to  the  residue  of  Louisiana — extends 
the  jurisdiction  of  that  government  to  it,  and  subjects  the  gover 
nors,  or  commandants,  of  the  districts  of  Baton  Rouge,  Feliciana, 
Mobile,  and  Pensacola,  to  the  authority  of  the  governor  of  Lou 
isiana,  residing  at  New  Orleans ;  while  the  governor  of  East 
Florida  is  placed  wholly  without  his  control,  and  is  made  amena 
ble  directly  to  the  governor  of  the  Havannah.  Indeed,  sir,  I 
have  been  credibly  informed  that  all  the  concessions,  or  grants 
of  land,  made  in  West  Florida,  under  the  authority  of  Spain,  run 
in  the  name  of  the  government  of  Louisiana.  You  cannot  have 
forgotten  that,  about  the  period  when  we  took  possession  of  New 
Orleans,  under  the  treaty  of  cession  from  France,  the  whole 
country  resounded  with  the  nefarious  speculations  which  were 
alleged  to  be  making  in  that  city  with  the  connivance,  if  not  ac 
tual  participation  of  the  Spanish  authorities,  by  the  procurement 
of  surreptitious  grants  of  land,  particularly  in  the  district  of  Fe 
liciana.  West  Florida,  then,  not  only  as  France  had  held  ft,  but 
as  it  was  in  the  hands  of  Spain,  made  a  part  of  the  province  of 
Louisiana ;  as  much  so  as  the  jurisdiction,  or  district  of  Baton 
Rouge  constituted  a  part  of  West  Florida. 

What,  then,  is  the  true  construction  of  the  treaties  of  St. 
Ildefonso,  and  of  April,  1803,  from  whence  our  title  is  derived? 
If  an  ambiguity  exist  in  a  grant,  the  interpretation  most  favora 
ble  to  the  grantee  is  preferred.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  grantor 
to  have  expressed  himself  in  plain  and  intelligible  terms.  This 


ON  THE  LINE  OP  THE  PERDIDO.  1& 

is  the  doctrine,  not  of  Coke  only,  (whose  dicta  I  admit  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  question,)  but  of  the  code  of  universal 
law.  The  doctrine  is  entitled  to  augmented  force,  when  a  clause 
>nly  of  the  instrument  is  exhibited,  in  which  clause  the  ambiguity 
lurks,  and  the  residue  of  the  instrument  is  kept  back  by  the 
grantor.  The  entire  convention  of  1762,  by  which  France  trans 
ferred  Louisiana  to  Spain,  is  concealed,  and  the  whole  of  the 
?reaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  except  a  solitary  clause.  We  are  thus 
deprived  of  the  aid  which  a  full  view  of  both  of  those  instruments 
-.vould  afford.  But  we  have  no  occasion  to  resort  to  any  rules 
of  construction,  however  reasonable  in  themselves,  to  establish 
our  title.  A  competent  knowledge  of  the  facts,  connected  with 
'he  case,  and  a  candid  appeal  to  the  treaties,  are  alone  sufficient 
jo  manifest  our  right.  The  negotiators  of  the  treaty  of  1803, 
aaving  signed,  with  the  same  ceremony,  two  copies,  one  in  En 
glish  and  the  other  in  the  French  language,  it  has  been  contended 
diat  in  the  English  version,  the  term  "cede"  has  been  errone 
ously  used  instead  of  ;:retrocede,"  which  is  the  expression  in  the 
French  copy.  And  it  is  argued  that  we  are  bound  by  the  phra 
seology  of  the  French  copy,  because  it  is  declared  that  the  treaty 
vvas  agreed  to  in  that  language.  It  would  not  be  very  unfair  to 
inquire  if  this  is  not  like  the  common  case  in  private  life,  where 
individuals  enter  into  a  contract,  of  which  each  party  retains 
&  copy,  duly  executed.  In  such  case,  neither  has  the  prefer 
ence.  We  might  as  well  say  to  France,  we  will  cling  by  the 
Knglish  copy,  as  she  could  insist  upon  an  adherence  to  the 
French  copy;  and  if  she  urged  ignorance  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Marbois,  her  negotiator,  of  our  language,  we  might  with  equal 
propriety  plead  ignorance  on  the  part  of  our  negotiators  of  her 
language.  As  this,  however,  is  a  disputable  point,  I  do  not  avail 
.nyself  of  it;  gentlemen  shall  have  the  full  benefit  of  the  expres»- 
uions  in  the  French  copy.  According  to  this,  then,  in  reciting 
the  treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  it  is  declared  by  Spain,  in  1800,  that 
she  retrocedes  to  France  the  colony  or  province  of  Louisiana, 
with  the  same  extent  which  it  then  had  in  the  hands  of  Spain, 
and  which  it  had  when  France  possessed  it,  and  such  as  it  should 
be  after  the  treaties  subsequently  entered  into  between  Spain 
and  other  states.  This  latter  member  of  the  description  has 
been  sufficiently  explained  by  my  colleague. 

It  is  said  that  since  France,  in  1762,  ceded  to  Spain  only 
Louisiana  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  island  of  New-Or 
leans,  the  retrocession  comprehended  no  more — that  the  retro 
cession  ex  m  termini  was  commensurate  with,  and  limited  by, 
the  direct  cession  from  France  to  Spain.  If  this  were  true,  then 
the  description,  such  as  Spain  held  it,  that  is  in  1800,  comprising 
West  Florida,  and  such  as  France  possessed  it,  that  is  in  1762, 
prior  to  the  several  cessions,  comprising  also  West  Florida, 
would  be  totally  inoperative.  But  the  definition  of  the  term 
retrocession,  contended  for  by  the  other  side,  is  denied.  It  does 
not  exclude  the  instrumentality  of  a  third  party.  It  means  resto- 


20  ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  PERDIDO. 

ration,  or  re-conveyance  of  a  thing  originally  ceded,  and  so  the 
gentleman  from  Delaware  acknowledged.  I  admit  that  the 
thing  restored  must  have  come  to  the  restoring  party  from  the 
party  to  whom  it  is  retroceded ;  whether  directly  or  indirectly  is 
wholly  immaterial.  In  its  passage  it  may  have  come  through 
a  dozen  hands.  The  retroceding  party  must  claim  under  and 
in  virtue  of  the  right  originally  possessed  by  the  party  to  whom 
the  retrocession  takes  place.  Allow  me  to  put  a  case:  You 
own  an  estate  called  Louisiana.  You  convey  one  moiety  of  it 
to  the  gentleman  from  Delaware,  and  the  other  tome;  he  con 
veys  his  moiety  to  me,  and  I  thus  become  entitled  to  the  whole. 
By  a  suitable  instrument  I  re-convey,  or  retrocede  the  estate 
called  Louisiana  to  you  as  I  now  hold  it,  and  as  you  held  it ; 
what  passes  to  you?  The  whole  estate,  or  my  moiety  only? 
Let  me  indulge  another  supposition — that  the  gentleman  from 
Delaware,  after  he  received  from  you  his  moiety,  bestowed  a 
new  denomination  upon  it  and  called  it  West  Florida — would 
that  circumstance  vary  the  operation  of  my  act  of  retrocession 
to  you?  The  case  supposed  is  in  truth  the  real  one  between  the 
United  States  arid  Spain.  France,  in  1762,  transfers  Louisiana, 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  to  Spain,  and  at  the  same  time  conveys 
the  eastern  portion  of  it,  exclusive  of  New-Orleans,  to  Great 
Britain.  Twenty-one  years  after,  that  is,  in  1783,  Great  Britain 
cedes  her  part  to  Spain,  who  thus  becomes  possessed  of  the 
entire  province;  one  portion  by  direct  cession  from  France,  and 
the  residue  by  indirect  cession.  Spain  then  held  the  whole  of 
Louisiana  under  France,  and  in  virtue  of  the  title  of  France. 
The  whole  moved  or  passed  from  France  to  her.  When,  there 
fore,  in  this  state  of  things,  she  says,  in  the  treaty  of  St.  Ilde- 
fonso,  that  she  retrocedes  the  province  to  France,  can  a  doubt 
exist  that  she  parts  with,  and  gives  back  to  France,  the  entire 
colony?  To  preclude  the  possibility  of  such  a  doubt,  she  adds, 
that  she  restores  it,  not  in  a  mutilated  condition,  but  in  that 
precise  condition  in  which  France  had,  and  she  herself  pos 
sessed  it. 

Having  thus  shown,  as  I  conceive,  a  clear  right  in  the  United 
States  to  West  Florida,  I  proceed  to  inquire  if  the  proclamation 
of  the  President  directing  the  occupation  of  property,  which  is 
thus  fairly  acquired  by  solemn  treaty,  be  an  unauthorized  mea 
sure  of  war  and  of  legislation,  as  has  been  contended? 

The  act  of  October,  1S03,  contains  two  sections,  by  one  of 
which  the  President  is  authorized  to  occupy  the  territories 
ceded  to  us  by  France  in  the  April  preceding.  The  other 
empowers  the  President  to  establish  a  provisional  government 
there.  The  first  section  is  unlimited  in  its  duration;  the  other 
is  restricted  to  the  expiration  of  the  then  session  of  Congress. 
The  act.  therefore  of  March,  1804,  declaring  that  the  previous 
act  of  October  should  continue  in  force  until  the  1st  of  October, 
1804,  is  applicable  to  the  second  and  not  the  first  section,  and 
was  intended  to  continue  the  provisional  government  of  the 


ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  PERDIDO.  21 

President.  By  the  act  of  24th  February,  1804,  for  laying  duties 
on  goods  imported  into  the  ceded  territories,  the  President  ia 
empowered,  whenever  he  deems  it  expedient,  to  erect  the  bay 
and  river  Mobile,  &c.,  into  a  separate  district,  and  to  establish 
therein  a  port  of  entry  and  delivery.  By  this  same  act  the  Or 
leans  territory  is  laid  off,  and  its  boundaries  are  so  defined  as  to 
comprehend  West  Florida.  By  other  acts,  the  President  is 
authorized  to  remove  by  force,  under  certain  circumstances, 
persons  settling  on  or  taking  possession  of  lands  ceded  to  the 
United  States. 

These  laws  furnish  a  legislative  construction  of  the  treaty, 
corresponding  with  that  given  by  the  Executive,  and  they  indis 
putably  vest  in  this  branch  of  the  general  government  the  power 
to  take  possession  of  the  country,  whenever  it  might  be  proper 
in  his  discretion.  The  President  has  not  therefore  violated  the 
constitution  and  usurped  the  war-making  power,  but  he  would 
have  violated  that  provision  which  requires  him  to  see  that  the 
laws  are  faithfully  executed,  if  he  had  longer  forborne  to  act. 
It  is  urged  that  he  has  assumed  powers  belonging  to  Congress, 
in  undertaking  to  annex  the  portion  of  West  Florida,  between 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Perdido,  to  the  Orleans  territory.  But 
Congress,  as  has  been  shown,  has  already  made  this  annexation, 
the  limits  of  the  Orleans  territory,  as  prescribed  by  Congress, 
comprehending  the  country  in  question.  The  President,  by  his 
proclamation,  has  not  made  law,  but  has  merely  declared  to  the 
people  of  West  Florida  what  the  law  is.  This  is  the  office  of  a 
proclamation,  and  it  was  highly  proper  that  the  people  of  that 
territory  should  be  thus  notified.  By  the  act  of  occupying  the 
country,  the  government  de  facto,  whether  of  Spain  or  the  revo 
lutionists,  ceased  to  exist;  and  the  laws  of  the  Orleans  territory 
applicable  to  the  country,  by  the  operation  and  force  of  law 
attached  to  it.  But  this  was  a  state  of  things  which  the  people 
might  not  know,  and  which  every  dictate  of  justice  and  humanity 
therefore  required  should  be  proclaimed.  I  consider  the  bill 
before  us  merely  in  the  light  of  a  declaratory  law. 

Never  could  a  more  propitious  moment  present  itself  for  the 
exercise  of  the  discretionary  power  placed  in  the  President,  and 
had  he  failed  to  embrace  it,  he  would  have  been  criminally  inat 
tentive  to  the  dearest  interests  of  this  country.  It  cannot  be  too 
often  repeated,  that  if  Cuba  on  the  one  hand,  and  Florida  on 
the  other,  are  in  the  possession  of  a  foreign  maritime  power,  the 
immense  extent  of  country  belonging  to  the  United  States,  and 
watered  by  streams  discharging  themselves  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico — that  is  one-third,  nay,  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
United  States,  comprehending  Louisiana,  are  placed  at  the 
mercy  of  that  power.  The  possession  of  Florida  is  a  guarantee 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  navigation  of  those 
streams.  The  gentleman  from  Delaware  anticipates  the  most 
direful  consequences  from  the  occupation  of  the  country.  He 
supposes  a  sally  from  a  Spanish  garrison  upon  the  American 


22  ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  PERDIDO. 

forces,  and  asks  what  is  to  be  done?  We  attempt  a  peaceful 
possession  of  the  country  to  which  we  are  fairly  entitled.  If  the 
wrongful  occupants  under  the  authority  of  Spain  assail  our 
troops,  I  trust  they  will  retrieve  the  lost  honor  of  the  nation  in 
the  case  of  the  Chesapeake.  Suppose  an  attack  upon  any  por 
tion  of  the  American  army  within  the  acknowledged  limits  of  the 
United  States  by  a  Spanish  force?  In  such  event  there  would 
exist  but  a  single  honorable  and  manly  course.  The  gentleman 
conceives  it  ungenerous  that  we  should  at  this  moment,  when 
Spain  is  encompassed  and  pressed  on  all  sides  by  the  immense 
power  of  her  enemy,  occupy  West  Florida.  Shall  we  sit  by 
passive  spectators,  and  witness  the  interesting  transactions  of 
that  country — transactions  which  tend,  in  the  most  imminent 
degree,  to  jeopardize  our  rights,  without  attempting  to  interfere? 
Are  you  prepared  to  see  a  foreign  power  seize  what  belongs  to 
us?  I  have  heard  in  the  most  credible  manner  that,  about  the 
period  when  the  President  took  his  measures  in  relation  to  that 
country,  agents  of  a  foreign  power  were  intriguing  with  the 
people  there,  to  induce  them  to  come  under  his  dominion:  but 
whether  this  be  the  fact  or  not,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that,  if  you 
neglect  the  present  auspicious  moment — if  you  reject  the  prof 
fered  boon,  some  other  nation,  profiting  by  your  errors,  will  seize 
the  occasion  to  get  a  fatal  footing  in  your  southern  frontier.  I 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  if  a  parent  country  will  not 
or  cannot  maintain  its  authority  in  a  Colony  adjacent  to  us,  and 
there  exists  in  it  a  state  of  misrule  and  disorder,  menacing  our 
peace,  and  if  moreover  such  Colony,  by  passing  into  the  hands 
of  any  other  power,  would  become  dangerous  to  the  integrity 
of  the  Union,  and  manifestly  tend  to  the  subversion  of  our  laws, 
we  have  a  right,  upon  the  eternal  principles  of  self-preservation, 
to  lay  hold  upon  it.  This  principle  alone,  independent  of  any 
title,  would  warrant  our  occupation  of  West  Florida.  But  it  is 
not  necessary  to  resort  to  it,  our  title  being  in  my  judgment 
incontestibly  good.  We  are  told  of  the  vengeance  of  resusci 
tated  Spain.  If  Spain,  under  any  modification  of  her  govern 
ment,  choose  to  make  war  upon  us,  for  the  act  under  conside 
ration,  the  nation,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  be  willing  to  embark  in 
such  a  contest.  But  the  gentleman  reminds  us  that  Great 
Britain,  the  ally  of  Spain,  may  be  obliged,  by  her  connexion 
with  that  country,  to  take  part  with  her  against  us,  and  to  con 
sider  this  measure  of  the  President  as  justifying  an  appeal  to 
arms.  Sir,  is  the  time  never  to  arrive  when  we  may  manage 
our  own  affairs  without  the  fear  of  insulting  His  Britanme 
Majesty?  Is  the  rod  of  British  power  to  be  forever  suspended 
over  our  heads?  Does  Congress  put  on  an  embargo  to  shelter 
our  rightful  commerce  against  the  piratical  depredations  com 
mitted  upon  it  on  the  ocean — we  are  immediately  warned  of 
the  indignation  of  offended  England.  Is  a  law  of  non-intercourse 
proposed— the  whole  navy  of  the  haughty  mistress  of  the  seas 
is  made  to  thunder  in  our  ears.  Does  the  President  refuse  to 


ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  PERDIDO.  23 

Continue  a  correspondence  with  a  minister  who  violates  the 
decorum  belonging  to  his  diplomatic  character,  by  giving  and 
deliberately  repeating  an  affront  to  the  whole  nation — we  are 
instantly  menaced  with  the  chastisement  which  English  pride 
will  not  fail  to  inflict.  Whether  we  assert  our  riglits  by  sea, 
or  attempt  their  maintenance  by  land — whithersoever  we  turn 
ourselves,  this  phantom  incessantly  pursues  us.  Already  has  it 
had  too  much  influence  on  the  councils  of  the  nation.  It  con 
tributed  to  the  repeal  of  the  embargo — that  dishonorable  repeal, 
which  has  so  much  tarnished  the  character  of  our  government. 
Mr.  President,  I  have  before  said  on  this  floor,  and  now  take 
occasion  to  remark,  that  I  most  sincerely  desire  peace  and 
amity  with  England;  that  I  even  prefer  an  adjustment  of  all 
differences  with  her,  before  one  with  any  other  nation.  But 
if  she  persists  in  a  denial  of  justice  to  us,  or  if  she  avails  her 
self  of  the  occupation  of  West  Florida  to  commence  war  upon 
us,  I  trust  and  hope  that  all  hearts  will  unite  in  a  bold  and 
vigorous  vindication  of  our  rights.  I  do  not  believe,  however, 
jm.  the  prediction  that  war  will  be  the  effect  of  the  measure  in 
question. 

It  is  asked  why,  some  years  ago,  when  the  interruption  of  the 
right  of  deposit  took  place  at  New-Orleans,  the  government  did 
not  declare  war  against  Spain,  and  how  it  has  happened  that 
there  has  been  this  long  acquiescence  in  the  Spanish  possession 
of  West  Florida?  The  answer  is  obvious.  It  consists  in  the 
genius  of  the  nation,  which  is  prone  to  peace;  in  that  desire  to 
arrange,  by  friendly  negotiation,  our  disputes  with  all  nations, 
which  has  constantly  influenced  the  present  and  preceding  ad 
ministration;  and  in  the  jealousy  of  armies,  with  which  we  have 
been  inspired  by  the  melancholy  experience  of  free  estates.  But 
a  new  state  of  things  has  arisen:  negotiation  has  become  hopeless. 
The  power  with  whom  it  was  to  be  conducted,  if  not  annihilated, 
is  in  a  situation  that  precludes  it;  and  the  subject-matter  of  it  is 
in  danger  of  being  snatched  forever  from  our  power.  Longer 
delay  would  be  construed  into  a  dereliction  of  our  right,  and 
would  amount  to  treachery  to  ourselves.  May  I  ask,  in  my  turn, 
why  certain  gentlemen,  now  so  fearful  of  war,  were  so  urgent 
for  it  with  Spain  when  she  withheld  the  right  of  deposit?  and 
still  later,  when  in  1805  or  6  this  verv  subject  of  the  actual  limits 
of  Louisiana  was  before  Congress  1  I  will  not  say,  because  I 
do  not  know  that  I  am  authorized  to  say,  that  the  motive  is  to 
be  found  in  the  change  of  relation  between  Spain  and  other 
European  powers,  since  those  periods. 

Does  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Delaware  really  believe 
that  he  finds  in  St.  Domingo  a  case  parallel  with  that  of  West 
Florida?  and  that  our  government,  having  interdicted  an  illicit 
commerce  with  the  former,  ought  not  to  have  interposed  in  rela 
tion  to  the  latter.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  consume  your  time 
by  remarking  that  we  had  no  pretensions  to  that  island;  that  it 
did  not  menace  our  repose,  nor  did  the  safety  of  the  United 


24  ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER. 

States  require  that  they  should  occupy  it.  It  became,  therefore, 
our  duty  to  attend  to  the  just  remonstrance  of  France  against 
American  citizens  supplying  the  rebels  with  the  means  of  resist 
ing  her  power. 

I  am  not,  sir,  in  favor  of  cherishing  the  passion  of  conquest. 
But  I  must  be  permitted,  in  conclusion,  to  indulge  the  hope  of 
seeing,  ere  long,  the  new  United  States,  (if  you  will  allow  me 
the  expression,)  embracing,  not  only  the  old  thirteen  States,  but 
the  entire  country  east  of  the  Mississippi,  including  East  Florida, 
and  some  of  the  territories  of  the  north  of  us  also. 


ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER. 

Speech  on  the  question  of  renewing  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  delivered  in  the  Senate,  1811. 

MR.  PRESIDENT, 

When  the  subject  involved  in  the  motion  now  under  conside 
ration  was  depending  before  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature, 
a  disposition  to  acquiesce  in  their  decision  was  evinced.  For  al 
though  the  committee  who  reported  this  bill  had  been  raised 
many  weeks  prior  to  the  determination  of  that  house  on  the  pro 
position  to  re-charter  the  bank,  except  the  occasional  reference 
to  it  of  memorials  and  petitions,  we  scarcely  ever  heard  of  it. 
The  rejection,  it  is  true,  of  a  measure  brought  before  either 
branch  of  Congress  does  not  absolutely  preclude  the  other  from 
taking  up  the  same  proposition ;  but  the  economy  of  our  time 
and  a  just  deference  for  the  opinion  of  others,  would  seem  to  re 
commend  a  delicate  and  cautious  exercise  of  this  power.  A« 
this  subject,  at  the  memorable  period  when  the  charter  was 
granted,  called  forth  the  best  talents  of  the  nation — as  it  has,  on 
various  occasions,  undergone  the  most  thorough  investigation, 
and  as  we  can  hardly  expect  that  it  is  susceptible  of  receiving 
any  further  elucidation,  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  we  should  have 
been  spared  useless  debate.  This  was  the  more  desirable  be 
cause  there  are,  I  conceive,  much  superior  claims  upon  us  for  ev 
ery  hour  of  the  small  portion  of  the  session  yet  remaining  to  us. 
Under  the  operation  of  these  motives,  I  had  resolved  to^give  a 
silent  vote,  until  I  felt  myself  bound,  by  the  defying  manner  of 
the  arguments  advanced  in  support  of  the  renewal,  to  obey  the 
paramount  duties  I  owe  my  country  and  its  constitution ;  to  make 
one  effort,  however  feeble,  to  avert  the  passage  of  what  appears 
to  me  a  most  unjustifiable  law.  After  my  honorable  friend  from 
Virginia  (Mr.  Giles)  had  instructed  and  amused  us  with  the  very 
able  and  ingenious  argument  which  he  delivered  on  yesterday, 
I  should  have  still  forborne  to  trespass  on  the  Senate  but  for  the 
extraordinary  character  of  his  speech.  He  discussed  both  sides 
)f  the  question  with  great  ability  and  eloquence,  and  certainly 


ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER.  25 

demonstrated  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  who  heard  him,  both  that 
it  was  constitutional  and  unconstitutional,  highly  proper  and  im 
proper  to  prolong  the  charter  of  the  bank.  The  honorable  gen 
tleman  appeared  to  me  in  the  predicament  in  which  the  celebra 
ted  orator  of  Virginia,  Patrick  Henry,  is  said  to  have  been  once 
placed.  Engaged  in  a  most  extensive  and  lucrative  practice  of 
the  law,  he  mistook  in  one  instance  the  side  of  the  cause  in  which 
he  was  retained,  and  addressed  the  court  and  jury  in  a  very 
masterly  and  convincing  speech  in  behalf  of  his  antagonist.  His 
distracted  client  came  up  to  him  whilst  he  was  thus  employed, 
and  interrupting  him,  bitterly  exclaimed.  "  you  have  undone  me  ! 
You  have  ruined  me  !" — "  Never  mind,  give  yourself  no  concern," 
said  the  adroit  advocate ;  and  turning  to  the  court  and  jury,  con 
tinued  his  argument  by  observing,  "  may  it  please  your  honors, 
and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  have  been  stating  to  you  what 
I  presume  my  adversary  may  urge  on  his  side.  I  will  now  show 
you  how  fallacious  his  reasoning  and  groundless  his  pretensions 
are."  The  skilful  orator  proceeded,  satisfactorily  refuted  every 
argument  he  had  advanced,  and  gained  his  cause  !  A  success 
with  which  I  trust  the  exertion  of  my  honorable  friend  will  on 
this  occasion  be  crowned. 

It  has  been  said  by  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Georgia, 
(Mr.  Crawford)  that  this  has  been  made  a  party  question,  al 
though  the  law  incorporating  the  bank  was  passed  prior  to  the 
formation  of  parties,  and  when  Congress  was  not  biassed  by 
party  prejudices.  (Mr.  Crawford  explained.  He  did  not  mean 
that  it  had  been  made  a  party  question  in  the  senate.  His  allu 
sion  was  elsewhere.)  I  do  not  think  it  altogether  fair  to  refer  to 
the  discussions  in  the  house  of  representatives,  as  gentlemen  be 
longing  to  that  body  have  no  opportunity  of  defending  them 
selves  here.  It  is  true  that  this  law  was  not  the  effect,  but 
it  is  no  less  true  that  it  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  politi 
cal  divisions  in  this  country.  And,  if,  during  the  agitation  of  the 
present  question,  the  renewal  has,  on  one  side,  been  opposed  on 
party  principles,  let  me  ask  if,  on  the  other,  it  has  not  been  advo 
cated  on  similar  principles?  Where  is  the  Macedonian  phalanx, 
the  opposition  in  Congress  ?  I  believe,  sir,  I  shall  not  incur  the 
charge  of  presumptuous  prophecy,  when  I  predict  we  shall  not 
pick  up  from  its  ranks  one  single  straggler !  And  if,  on  this  oc 
casion,  my  worthy  friend  from  G,eorgia  has  gone  over  into  the 
camp  of  the  enemy,  is  it  kind  in  him  to  look  back  upon  his  former 
friends,  and  rebuke  them  for  the  fidelity  with  whicn  they  adhere 
to  their  old  principles  ? 

I  shall  not  stop  to  examine  how  far  a  representative  is  bound 
by  the  instructions  of  his  constituents.  That  is  a  question  be 
tween  the  giver  and  receiver  of  the  instructions.  But  I  must  be 
permitted  to  express  my  surprise  at  the  pointed  difference  which 
has  been  made  between  the  opinions  and  instructions  of  state 
legislatures,  and  the  opinions  and  details  of  the  deputations  with 
3 


26  ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER. 

which  we  have  been  surrounded  from  Philadelphia.  Whilst  the 
resolutions  of  those  legislatures — known,  legitimate,  constitutional 
and  deliberative  bodies — have  been  thrown  into  the  back  ground, 
and  their  interference  regarded  as  officious,  these  delegations 
from  self-created  societies,  composed  of  nobody  knows  whom, 
have  been  received  by  the  committee  with  the  utmost  complais 
ance.  Their  communications  have  been  treasured  up  with  the 
greatest  diligence.  Never  did  the  Delphic  priests  collect  with 
more  holy  care  the  frantic  expressions  of  the  agitated  Pythia,  or 
expound  them  with  more  solemnity  to  the  astonished  Grecians, 
than  has  the  committee  gathered  the  opinions  and  testimonies  of 
these  deputies,  and  through  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts, 
pompously  detailed  them  to  the  senate  !  Philadelphia  has  her 
immediate  representatives,  capable  of  expressing  her  wishes  upon 
the  floor  of  the  other  house.  If  it  be  improper  for  states  to  ob 
trude  upon  Congress  their  sentiments,  it  is  much  more,  highly  so 
for  the  unauthorised  deputies  of  fortuitous  congregations. 

The  first  singular  feature  that  attracts  attention  in  this  bill  is 
the  new  and  unconstitutional  veto  which  it  establishes.  The 
constitution  has  required  only,  that  after  bills  have  passed  the 
house  of  representatives  and  the  senate,  they  shall  be  presented 
to  the  president  for  his  approval  or  rejection,  and  his  determina 
tion  is  to  be  made  known  in  ten  days.  Bat  this  bill  provides, 
that  when  all  the  constitutional  sanctions  are  obtained,  and  when 
according  to  the  usual  routine  of  legislation  it  ought  to  be  con 
sidered  as  a  law.it  is  to  be  submitted  to  a  new  branch  of  the 
legislature,  consisting  of  the  president  and  twenty-four  directors 
of  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  holding  their  sessions  in  Phil 
adelphia,  and  if  they  please  to  approve  it,  why  then  it  is  to  bo- 
come  a  law!  And  three  months  (the  term  allowed  by  our 
law  of  May  last,  to  one  of  the  great  belligerents  for  revoking 
his  edicts,  after  the  other  shall  have  repealed  his)  are  granted 
them  to  decide  whether  an  act  of  Congress  shall  be  the  law  of 
the  land  or  not!  An  act  which  is  said  to  be  indispensably  ne 
cessary  to  our  salvation,  and  without  the  passage  of  which  uni 
versal  distress  and  bankruptcy  are  to  pervade  the  country.  Re 
member,  sir,  that  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Georgia  has 
contended  that  this  charter  is  no  contract.  Does  it  then  become 
the  representatives  of  the  nation  to  leave  the  nation  at  the 
mercy  of  a  corporation?  Ought  the  impending  calamities  to  be 
left  to  the  hazard  of  a  contingent  remedy  ? 

This  vagrant  power  to  erect  a  bank,  after  having  wandered 
throughout  the  whole  constitution  in  quest  of  some  congenial 
spot  to  fasten  upon,  has  been  at  length  located  by  the  gentleman 
from  Georgia  on  that  provision  which  authorizes  Congress  to 
lay  and  collect  taxes,  &c.  In  1791,  the  power  is  referred  to  one 
part  of  the  instrument;  in  1811  to  another.  Sometimes  it  is  al- 
ledged  to  be  deducible  from  the  power  to  regulate  commerce. 
Hard  pressed  here  it  disappears,  and  shows  itself  under  the 
grant  to  coin  money.  The  sagacious  secretary  of  the  treasury 


ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER.  27 

in  1791  pursued  the  wisest  course — he  has  taken  shelterbehind  gen 
eral,  high  sounding  and  imposing  terms.  He  has  declared,  in  the 
preamble  to  the  act  establishing  the  bank,  that  it  will  be  very 
conducive  to  the  successful  conducting  of  the  national  finances; 
will  tend  to  give  facility  to  the  obtaining  of  loans,  and  will  be 
productive  of  considerable  advantage  to  trade  and  industry  in 
general.  No  allusion  is  made  to  the  collection  of  taxes.  What 
is  the  nature  of  this  government  ?  It  is  emphatically  federal, 
vested  with  an  aggregate  of  specified  powers  for  general  pur 
poses,  conceded  by  existing  sovereignties,  who  have  themselves 
retained  what  is  not  so  conceded.  It  is  said  that  there  are  cases 
in  which  it  must  act  on  implied  powers.  This  is  not  controverted. 
but  the  implication  must  be  necessary,  and  obviously  flow  from 
the  enumerated  power  with  which  it  is  allied.  The  power  to 
charter  companies  is  not  specified  in  the  grant,  and  I  contend  is 
of  a  nature  not  transferable  by  mere  implication.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  exalted  attributes  of  sovereignty.  In  the  exercise  of 
this  gigantic  power  we  have  seen  an  East  India  company  created, 
which  has  carried  dismay,  desolation,  and  death,  throughout  one 
of  the  largest  portions  of  the  habitable  world.  A  company  which 
is  in  itself,  a  sovereignty — which  has  subverted  empires  and  set 
up  new  dynasties — and  has  not  only  made  war,  but  war  against 
its  legitimate  sovereign  !  Under  the  influence  of  this  power,  we 
have  seen  arise  a  South  Sea  company,  and  a  Mississippi  com 
pany,  that  distracted  and  convulsed  all  Europe,  and  menaced  a 
total  overthrow  of  all  credit  and  confidence,  and  universal  bank 
ruptcy.  Is  it  to  be  imagined  that  a  power  .so  vast  would  have 
been  left  by  the  wisdom  of  the  constitution  to  doubtful  inference'? 
It  has  been  alledged  that  there  are  many  instances  in  the  con 
stitution,  where  powers,  in  their  nature  incidental,  and  which 
would  have  necessarily  been  vested  along  with  the  principal,  are 
nevertheless  expressly  enumerated ;  and  the  power  "  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  government  of  the  land  and  naval 
forces,"  which  it  is  said  is  incidental  to  the  power  to  raise  armies 
and  provide  a  navy,  is  given  as  an  example.  What  does  this 
prove  ?  How  extremely  cautious  the  convention  were  to  leave 
as  little  as  possible  to  implication.  In  all  cases  where  incidental 
powers  are  acted  upon,  the  principal  and  incidental  ought  to  be 
congenial  with  each  other,  and  partake  of  a  common  nature. 
The  incidental  power  ought  to  be  strictly  subordinate  and  limited 
to  the  end  proposed  to  be  attained  by  the  specified  power.  In 
other  words,  under  the  name  of  accomplishing  one  object  which 
is  specified,  the  power  implied  ought  not  to  be  made  to  embrace 
other  objects,  which  are  not  specified  in  the  constitution.  If  then 
you  could  establish  a  bank  to  collect  and  distribute  the  revenue, 
it  ought  to  be  expressly  restricted  to  the  purpose  of  such  collec 
tion  or  distribution.  It  is  mockery,  worse  than  usurpation,  to 
establish  it  for  a  lawful  object,  and  then  to  extend  it  to  other  ob 
jects  which  are  not  lawful.  In  deducing  the  power  to  create 
corporations,  such  as  I  have  described  it,  from  the  power  to  col- 


23  ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER. 

lect  taxes,  the  relation  and  condition  of  principal  and  incident 
are  prostrated  and  destroyed.  The  accessory  is  exalted  above 
the  principal.  As  well  might  it  be  said  that  the  great  luminary 
of  day  is  an  accessory,  a  satelite  to  the  humblest  star  that 
twinkles  forth  its  feeble  light  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  ! 

Suppose  the  constitution  had  been  silent  as  to  an  individual 
department  of  this  government,  could  you,  under  the  power  to 
lay  and  collect  taxes,  establish  a  judiciary?  I  presume  not; 
but  if  you  could  derive  the  power  by  mere  implication,  could 
you  vest  it  with  any  other  authority  than  to  enforce  the  collection 
of  the  revenue  ?  A  bank  is  made  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of 
aiding  in  the  collection  of  the  revenue,  and  whilst  it  is  engaged 
in  this,  the  most  inferior  and  subordinate  of  all  its  functions,  it  is 
made  to  diffuse  itself  throughout  society,  and  to  influence  all  the 
great  operations  of  credit,  circulation  and  commerce.  Like  the 
Virginia  justice,  you  tell  the  man  whose  turkey  had  been  stolen, 
that  your  books  of  precedents  furnish  no  form  for  his  case,  but 
then  you  will  grant  him  a  precept  to  search  for  a  cow,  and  when 
looking  for  that  he  may  possibly  find  his  turkey  !  You  say  to 
this  corporation,  we  cannot  authorise  you  to  discount — to  emit 
paper — to  regulate  commerce,  &c.  No  !  Our  book  has  no  pre 
cedents  of  that  kind.  But  then  we  can  authorize  you  to  collect 
the  revenue,  and,  whilst  occupied  with  that,  you  may  do  whatever 
else  you  please ! 

What  is  a  corporation  such  as  the  bill  contemplates?  It  is  a 
splendid  association  of  favored  individuals,  taken  from  the  mass 
of  society,  and  invested  with  exemptions  and  surrounded  by 
immunities  and  privileges.  The  honorable  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts,  (Mr.  Lloyd,)  has  said  that  the  original  law, 
establishing  the  bank,  was  justly  liable  to  the  objection  of  vesting 
in  that  institution  an  exclusive  privilege,  the  faith  of  the  govern 
ment  being  pledged  that  no  other  bank  should  be  authorized 
during  its  existence.  This  objection  he  supposes  is  obviated  by 
the  bill  under  consideration;  but  all  corporations  enjoy  exclusive 
privileges — that  is,  the  corporators  have  privileges  which  no 
others  possess ;  if  you  create  fifty  corporations  instead  of  one, 
you  have  only  fifty  privileged  bodies  instead  of  one.  I  contend 
that  the  States  have  the  exclusive  power  to  regulate  contracts, 
to  declare  the  capacities  and  incapacities  to  contract,  and  to 
provide  as  to  the  extent  of  responsibility  of  debtors  to  their 
creditors.  If  Congress  have  the  power  to  erect  an  artificial 
body,  and  say  it  shall  be  endowed  with  the  attributes  of  an  indi 
vidual — if  you  can  bestow  on  this  object  of  your  own  creation 
the  ability  to  contract,  may  you  not,  in  contravention  of  state 
rights,  confer  upon  slaves,  infants  and  femmes  covert  the  ability 
to  contract?  And  if  you  have  the  power  to  say  that  an  associa 
tion  of  individuals  shall  be  responsible  for  their  debts  only  in  a 
certain  limited  degree;  what  is  to  prevent  an  extension  of  a 
similar  exemption  to  individuals?  Where  is  the  limitation  upon 
this  power  to  set  up  corporations?  You  establish  one  in  the 


ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER.  29 

heart  of  a  state,  the  basis  of  whose  capital  is  money.  You  may 
erect  others  whose  capital  shall  consist  of  land,  slaves  and  per 
sonal  estates,  and  thus  the  whole  property  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  a  state  might  be  absorbed  by  these  political'  bodies.  The 
existing  bank  contends  that  it  is  beyond  the  power  of  a  state  to 
tax  it,  and  if  this  pretension  be  well  founded,  it  is  in  the  power 
of  Congress,  by  chartering  companies  to  dry  up  all  the  sources 
of  State  revenue.  Georgia  has  undertaken,  it  is  true,  to  levy  a 
tax  on  the  branch  within  her  jurisdiction,  but  this  law,  now 
under  a  course  of  litigation,  is  considered  as  invalid.  The  Uni 
ted  States  own  a  great  deal  of  land  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  Can  this 
government,  for  -the  purpose  of  creating  an  abillity  to  purchase 
it,  charter  a  company?  Aliens  are  forbidden,  I  Believe,  in  that 
State,  to  hold  real  estate — could  you,  in  order  to  multiply  pur 
chasers,  confer  upon  them  the  capacity  to  hold  land,  in  derogation 
of  the  local  law  ?  I  imagine  this  will  hardly  be  insisted  upon ; 
and  yet  there  exists  a  more  obvious  connexion  between  the  un 
doubted  power,  which  is  possessed  by  this  government,  to  sell  its 
land,  and  the  means  of  executing  that  power  by  increasing  the 
demand  in  the  market,  than  there  is  between  this  bank  and  the 
collection  of  a  tax.  This  government  has  the  power  to  levy 
taxes — to  raise  armies — provide  a  navy — make  war — regulate 
commerce — coin  money,  &c.,  &c.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to 
show  as  intimate  a  connexion  between  a  corporation,  established 
for  any  purpose  whatever,  and  some  one  or  other  of  those  great 
powers,  as  there  is  between  the  revenue  and  the  bank  of  the 
United  States. 

Let  us  inquire  into  the  actual  participation  of  this  bank  in  the 
collection  of  the  revenue.  Prior  to  the  passage  of  the  act  of 
1800,  requiring  the  collectors  of  those  ports  of  entry  at  which 
the  principal  bank,  or  any  of  its  offices  are  situated,  to  deposit 
with  them  the  custom-house  bonds,  it  had  not  the  smallest  agen 
cy  in  the  collection  of  the  duties.  During  almost  one  moiety  of 
the  period  to  which  the  existence  of  this  institution  was  limited, 
it  was  nowise  instrumental  in  the  collection  of  that  revenue,  to 
v/hich  it  is  now  become  indispensable !  The  collection  previous 
to  1800,  was  made  entirely  by  the  collectors ;  and  even  at 
present,  where  there  is  one  port  of  entry,  at  which  this  bank  is 
employed,  there  are  eight  or  ten  at  which  the  collection  is  made 
as  it  was  before  1800.  And,  sir,  what  does  this  bank  or  its 
branches,  where  resort  is  had  to  it?  It  does  not  adjust  with  the 
merchant  the  amount  of  duty,  nor  take  his  bond,  nor,  if  the 
"bond  is  not  paid,  coerce  the  payment,  by  distress  or  otherwise. 
In  fact,  it  has  no  active  agency  whatever  in  the  collection.  Its 
operation  is  merely  passive ;  that  is,  if  the  obligor,  after  his  bond 
is  placed  in  the  bank,  discharges  it,  all  is  very  well.  Such  is 
the  mighty  aid  afforded  by  this  tax-gatherer,  without  which  the 
government  cannot  get  along !  Again,  it  is  not  pretended  that 
the  very  limited  assistance  which  this  institution  does  in  truth 
3* 


30  ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER. 

render,  extends  to  any  other  than  a  single  species  of  tax,  that  is. 
duties.  In  the  collection  of  the  excise,  the  direct  and  other  in 
ternal  taxes,  no  aid  was  derived  from  any  bank.  It  is  true,  in 
the  collection  of  those  taxes,  the  former  did  not  obtain  the  same 
indulgence  which  the  merchant  receives  in  paying  duties.  But 
what  obliges  Congress  to  give  credit  at  all?  Could  it  not  de 
mand  prompt  payment  of  the  duties?  And,  in  fact,  does  it  not 
so  demand,  in  many  instances?  Whether  credit  is  given  or  not, 
is  a  matter  merely  of  discretion.  If  it  be  a  facility  to  mercantile 
operations,  (as  I  presume  it  is,)  it  ought  to  be  granted.  But  I 
deny  the  right  to  engraft  upon  it  a  bank,  which  you  would  not 
otherwise  have  the  power  to  erect.  You  cannot  create  the  ne 
cessity  of  a  bank,  and  then  plead  that  necessity  for  its  establish 
ment.  In  the  administration  of  the  finances,  the  bank  acts  simply 
as  a  payer  and  receiver.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  has 
money  in  New- York  and  wants  it  in  Charleston — the  bank  will 
furnish  him  with  a  check,  or  bill,  to  make  the  remittance,  which 
any  merchant  would  do  just  as  well. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  show  by  fact,  actual  experience,  not 
theoretic  reasoning,  but  by  the  records  themselves  of  the  treasury, 
that  the  operations  of  that  department  may  be  as  well  conducted 
without  as  with  this  bank.  The  delusion  has  consisted  in  the  use 
of  certain  high-sounding  phrases,  dexterously  used  on  the  occa 
sion — "the  collection  of  the  revenue" — "the  administration  of  the 
finance" — "the  conducting  of  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  govern 
ment,"  the  usual  language  of  the  advocates  of  the  bank,  extort 
express  assent,  or  awe  into  acquiescence,  without  inquiry  or  ex 
amination  into  its  necessity.  About  the  commencement  of  this 
year,  there  appears,  by  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasu 
ry  of  the  7th  of  January,  to  have  been  a  little  upwards  of  two 
millions  and  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States;  and  more  than  one-third  of  this  whole  sum  was 
in  the  vaults  of  local  banks.  In  several  instances  where  oppor 
tunities  existed  of  selecting  the  bank,  a  preference  has  been 
given  to  the  State  bank,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  the  deposits  has 
been  made  with  it.  In  New-York,  for  example,  there  was  de 
posited  with  the  Manhattan  Bank  $188.670,  although  a  branch 
bank  is  in  that  city.  In  this  District,  $115,080  were  deposited 
with  the  Bank  of  Columbia,  although  here  also  is  a  branch  bank, 
and  yet  the  State  banks  are  utterly  unsafe  to  be  trusted!  If  the 
money,  after  the  bonds  are  collected,  is  thus  placed  with  these 
banks,  I  presume  there  can  be  no  dfficulty  in  placing  the  bonds 
themselves  there,  if  they  must  be  deposited  with  some  bank  for 
collection,  which  I  deny. 

Again,  one  of  the  most  important  and  complicated  branches 
of  the  treasury  department  is  the  management  of  our  landed 
system.  The  sales  have,  in  some  years,  amounted  to  upwards 
of  half  a  million  of  dollars — are  generally  made  upon  credit, 
and  yet  no  bank  whatever  is  made  use  of  to  facilitate  the  collec 
tion.  After  it  is  made,  the  amount,  in  some  instances,  has  been 


ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER.  31 

deposited  with  banks,  and,  according  to  the  Secretary's  report, 
which  I  have  before  adverted  to,  the  amount  so  deposited  was, 
in  January,  upwards  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  not  one 
cent  of  which  was  in  the  vaults  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
or  in  any  of  its  branches,  but  in  the  Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  its 
branch  at  Pittsburgh,  the  Marietta  Bank,  and  the"  Kentucky 
Bank  Upon  the  point  of  responsibility,  I  cannot  subscribe  to  the 
opinion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  if  it  is  meant  that  the 
ability  to  pay  the  amount  of  any  deposits  which  the  government 
may  make,  under  any  exigency,  is  greater  than  that  of  the  State 
banks;  that  the  accountability  of  a  ramified  institution,  whose 
affairs  are  managed  by  a  single  head,  responsible  for  all  its 
members,  is  more  simple  than  that  of  a  number  ;of  independent 
and  unconnected  establishments,  I  shall  not  deny;  but,  with 
regard  to  safety,  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  think  it  is  on  the  side 
of  the  local  banks.  The  corruption  or  misconduct  of  the  parent, 
or  any  of  its  branches,  may  bankrupt  or  destroy  the  whole  sys 
tem,  and  the  loss  of  the  government,  in  that  event,  will  be  of  the 
deposits  made  with  each;  whereas,  in  the  failure  of  one  State 
bank,  the  loss  will  be  confined  to  the  deposit  in  the  vault  of  that 
bank.  It  is  said  to  have  been  a  part  of  Burr's  plan  to  seize  on 
the  branch  bank  at  New-Orleans.  At  that  period  large  sums,  im 
ported  from  La  Vera  Cruz,  are  alledged  to  have  been  deposited 
with  it,  and  if  the  traitor  had  accomplished  the  design,  the  bank 
of  the  United  States,  if  not  actually  bankrupt,  might  have  been 
constrained  to  stop  payment. 

It  is  urged  by  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  (Mr.  Lloyd) 
that  as  this  nation  advances  in  commerce,  wealth,  and  popula 
tion,  new  energies  will  be  unfolded,  new  wants  and  exigences 
will  arise,  aud  hence  he  infers  that  powers  must  be  implied  from 
the  constitution.  Bat,  sir,  the  question  is,  shall  we  stretch  the 
instrument  to  embrace  cases  riot  fairly  within  its  scope,  or  shall 
we  resort  to  that  remedy,  by  amendment,  which  the  constitution 
prescribes  ? 

Gentlemen  contend  that  the  construction  which  they  give  to 
the  constitution  has  been  acquiesced  in  by  all  parties  and  under 
all  administrations ;  and  they  rely  particularly  on  an  act  which 
passed  in  1804.  for  extending  a  branch  to  New-Orleans  ;  and  an 
other  act  of  1807,  for  punishing  those  who  should  forge  or  utter 
forged  paper  of  the  bank.  With  regard  to  the  first  law,  passed 
no  doubt  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  treasury  department, 
I  would  remark,  that  it  was  the  extension  of  a  branch  to  a  terri 
tory  over  which  Congress  possesses  the  power  of  legislation  al 
most  uncontrolled,  and  where,  without  any  constitutional  impedi 
ment,  charters  of  incorporation  may  be  granted.  As  to  the  other 
act,  it  was  passed  no  less  for  the  benefit  of  the  community  than 
the  bank — to  protect  the  ignorant  and  unwary  from  counterfeit 
paper,  purporting  to  have  been  emitted  by  the  bank.  When 
gentlemen  are  claiming  the  advantage  supposed  to  be  deducible 
from  acquiescence,  let  me  inquire  what  they  would  have  had 


32  ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER. 

those  to  do,  who  believed  the  establishment  of  a  bank  an  en 
croachment  upon  state  rights-?  Were  they  to  have  resisted,  and 
how1?  By  force  ?  Upon  the  change  of  parties  in  1800,  it  must 
be  well  recollected  that  the  greatest  calamities  were  predicted  as 
a  consequence  of  that  event  Intentions  were  ascribed  to  the 
new  occupants  of  power,  of  violating  the  public  faith,  and  pros 
trating  national  credit.  Under  such  circumstances,  that  they 
should  act  with  great  circumspection,  was  quite  natural.  They 
saw  in  full  operation  a  bank,  chartered  by  a  Congress  who  had 
as  much  right  to  judge  of  their  constitutional  powers  as  their 
successors.  Had  they  revoked  the  law  which,  gave  it  existence, 
the  institution  would,  in  all  probability,  continued  to  transact 
business  notwithstanding.  The  judiciary  would  have  been  ap 
pealed  to,  and  from  the  known  opinions  and  predilections  of  the 
judges  then  composing  it,  they  would  have  pronounced  the  act 
of  incorporation,  as  in  the  nature  of  a  contract,  beyond  the  re 
pealing  power  of  any  succeeding  legislature.  And,  sir,  what  a 
scene  of  confusion  would  such  a  state  of  things  have  presented 
— an  act  of  Congress,  which  was  law  in  the  statute  book,  arid  a 
nullity  on  the  judicial  records  !  was  it  not  the  wisest  to  wait  the 
natural  dissolution  of  the  corporation  rather  than  accelerate  that 
event  by  a  repealing  law  involving  so  many  delicate  considera 
tions? 

When  gentlemen  attempt  to  carry  this  measure  upon  the  ground 
of  acquiescence  or  precedent,  do  they  forget  that  we  are  not  in 
Westminster  Hall  ?  In  courts  of  justice,  the  utility  of  uniform 
decision  exacts  of  the  judge  a  conformity  to  the  adjudication  of 
his  predecessor.  In  the  interpretation  and  administration  of  the 
law,  tliis  practice  is  wise  and  proper,  and  without  it,  every  thing 
depending  upon  the  caprice  of  the  judge,  we  should  have  no  se 
curity  for  our  dearest  rights.  It  is  far  otherwise  when  applied  to 
the  source  of  legislation.  Here  no  rule  exists  but  the  constitu 
tion,  and  to  legislate  upon  the  ground  merely  that  our  predeces 
sors  thought  themselves  authorized,  under  similar  circumstances 
to  legislate,  is  to  sanctify  error  and  perpetuate  usurpation.  But 
if  we  are  to  be  subjected  to  the  trammels  of  precedent,  I  claim 
on  the  other  hand,  the  benefit  of  the  restrictions  under  which  the 
intelligent  judge  cautiously  receives  them.  It  is  an  established 
rule  that  to  give  to  a  previous  adjudication  any  effect,  the  mind 
of  the  judge  who  pronounced  it  must  have  been  awakened  to  the 
subject,  and  it  must  have  been  a  deliberate  opinion  formed  after 
full  argument.  In  technical  language,  it  must  not  have  been  sub 
silenlio.  Now  the  acts  of  1804  and  1807,  relied  upon  as  pledges 
for  the  rechartering  this  company,  passed  not  only  without  any 
discussions  whatever  of  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to 
establish  a  bank,  but  I  venture  to  say,  without  a  single  member 
having  had  his  attention  drawn  to  this  question.  I  had  the  hon 
or  of  a  seat  in  the  senate  when  the  latter  law  passed,  probably 
voted  for  it,  and  I  declare  with  the  utmost  sincerity  that  I  never 
once  thought  of  that  point,  and  I  appeal  confidently  to  every 


ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER.  33 

honorable  member  who  was  then  present,  to  say  if  that  was  not 
his  situation. 

This  doctrine  of  precedents,  applied  to  the  legislature,  appears 
to  me  to  be  fraught  with  the  most  mischievous  consequences. 
The  great  advantage  of  our  system  of  government  over  all  oth 
ers,  is,  that  we  have  a  written  constitution,  defining  its  limits,  and 
prescribing  its  authorities ;  and  that,  however,  for  a  time,  faction 
may  convulse  the  nation,  and  passion  and  party  prejudice  sway 
its  functionaries,  the  season  of  reflection  will  recur,  when  calmly 
retracing  their  deeds,  all  aberrations  from  fundamental  principle 
will  be  corrected.  But  once  substitute  practice  for  principle — 
the  exposition  of  the  constitution  for  the  text  of  the  constitution, 
and  in  vain  shall  we  look  for  the  instrument  in  the  instrument  it 
self!  It  will  be  as  diffused  and  intangible  as  the  pretended  con 
stitution  of  England : — and  must  be  sought  for  in  the  statute 
book,  in  the  fugitive  journals  of  Congress,  and  in  reports  of  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  !  What  would  be  our  condition  if  we 
were  to  take  the  interpretations  given  to  that  sacred  book,  which 
is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  criterion  of  our  faith,  for  the  book  itself? 
We  should  find  the  Holy  Bible  buried  beneath  the  interpreta 
tions,  glosses,  and  comments  of  councils,  synods,  and  learned  di 
vines,  which  have  produced  swarms  of  intolerant  and  furious 
sects,  partaking  less  of  the  mildness  and  meekness  of  their  origin 
than  of  a  vindictive  spirit  of  hostility  towards  each  other  !  They 
ought  to  afford  us  a  solemn  warning  to  make  that  constitution 
which  we  have  sworn  to  support,  our  invariable  guide. 

I  conceive,  then,  sir,  that  we  were  not  empowered  by  the  con 
stitution,  nor  bound  by  any  practice  under  it,  to  renew  the  char 
ter  of  this  bank,  and  I  might  here  rest  the  argument.  But  as 
there  are  strong  objections  to  the  renewal  on  the  score  of  expe 
diency,  and  as  the  distresses  which  will  attend  the  dissolution  of 
the  bank,  have  been  greatly  exaggerated,  I  will  ask  for  your  in 
dulgence  for  a  few  moments  longer.  That  some  temporary  ii> 
convenience  will  arise,  I  shall  not  deny ;  but  most  groundlessly 
have  the  recent  failures  in  New-York  been  attributed  to  the  dis 
continuance  of  this  bank.  As  well  might  you  ascribe  to  that 
cause  the  failures  of  Amsterdam  and  Hamburg,  of  London  and 
Liverpool.  The  embarrassments  of  commerce— the  sequestra 
tions  in  France — the  Danish  captures — in  fine,  the  belligerent 
edicts,  are  the  obvious  sources  of  these  failures.  Their  immedi 
ate  cause  in  the  return  of  bills  upon  London,  drawn  upon  the 
faith  of  unproductive  or  unprofitable  shipments.  Yes,  sir,  the 
protests  of  the  notaries  of  London,  not  those  of  New  York,  have 
occasioned  these  bankruptcies. 

The  power  of  a  nation  is  said  to  consist  in  the  sword  and  the 
purse.  Perhaps  at  last  all  power  is  resolvable  into  that  of  the 
purse,  for  with  it  you  may  command  almost  every  thing  else. 
The  specie  circulation  of  the  United  States  is  estimated  by  some 
calculators  at  ten  millions  of  dollars,  and  if  it  be  no  more,  one 
moiety  is  in  the  vaults  of  this  bank.  May  not  the  time  arrive 


34  ON  THE  BANK  CHARTER. 

when  the  concentration  of  such  a  vast  portion  of  the  circulating 
medium  of  the  country  in  the  hands  of  any  corporation,  will  be 
dangerous  to  our  liberties  ?  By  whom  is  this  immense  power 
wielded  ?  By  a  body,  who,  in  derogation  of  the  great  principle 
of  all  our  institutions,  responsibility  to  the  people,  is  amenable 
only  to  a  few  stockholders,  and  they  chiefly  foreigners.  Suppose 
an  attempt  to  subvert  this  government— would  not  the  traitor 
first  aim  by  force  or  corruption  to  acquire  the  treasure  of  this 
company  ?  Look  at  it  in  another  aspect.  Seven-tenths  of  its  capi 
tal  are  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  and  these  foreigners  chiefly 
English  subjects.  We  are  possibly  on  the  eve  of  a  rupture  with 
that  nation.  Should  such  an  event  occur,  do  you  apprehend  that 
the  English  premier  would  experience  any  difficulty  in  obtaining 
the  entire  control  of  this  institution?  Republics,  above  all  other 
governments,  ought  most  seriously  to  guard  against  foreign  in 
fluence.  All  history  proves  that  the  internal  dissentions  excited 
by  foreign  intrigue,  have  produced  the  downfall  of  almost  every 
free  government  that  has  hitherto  existed;  and  yet,  gentlemen 
contend  that  we  are  benefited  by  the  possession  of  this  foreign 
capital !  If  we  could  have  its  use,  without  its  attending  abuse, 
I  should  be  gratified  also.  But  it  is  in  vain  to  expect  the  one 
without  the  other.  Wealth  is  power,  and,  under  whatsoever  form 
it  exists,  its  proprietor,  whether  he  lives  on  this  or  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  will  have  a  proportionate  influence.  It  is  argued 
that  our  possession  of  this  English  capital  gives  us  a  great  influ 
ence  over  the  British  government.  If  this  reasoning  be  sound, 
we  had  better  revoke  the  interdiction  as  to  aliens  holding  land, 
and  invite  foreigners  to  engross  the  whole  property,  real  and 
personal,  of  the  country.  We  had  better  at  once  exchange  the 
condition  of  independent  proprietors  for  that  of  stewards.  We 
should  then  be  able  to  govern  foreign  nations,  according  to  the 
reasoning  of  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side.  But  let  us  put 
aside  this  theory,  and  appeal  to  the  decisions  of  experience.  Go 
to  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  see  what  has  been  achieved 
for  us  there  by  Englishmen  holding  seven-tenths  of  the  capital 
of  this  bank.  Has  it  released  from  galling  and  ignominious  bon 
dage  one  solitary  American  seaman  bleeding  under  British  op 
pression?  Did  it  prevent  the  unmanly  attack  upon  the  Chesa 
peake  ?  Did  it.  arrest  the  promulgation,  OP  has  it  abrogated  the 
orders  in  council — those  orders  which  have  given  birth  to  a  new 
era  in  commerce  ?  In  spite  of  all  its  boasted  effect,  are  not  the 
two  nations  brought  to  the  very  brink  of  war  ?  Are  we  quite 
sure,  that  on  this  side  of  the  water,  it  has  had  no  effect  favorable 
to  British  interests  ?  It  has  often  been  stated,  and  although  I  do 
not  know  that  it  is  susceptible  of  strict  proof,  1  believe  it  to  be  a 
fact,  that  this  bank  exercised  its  influence  in  support  of  Jay's 
treaty — and  may  it  not  have  contributed  to  blunt  the  public  sen 
timent,  or  paralyze  the  efforts  of  this  nation  against  British  ag 
gression. 
The  duke  of  Northumberland  is  said  to  be  the  most  consider- 


INCREASE  OP  THE  NAVY.  35 

uble  stockholder  in  the  bank  of  the  United  States.  A  late  lord 
chancellor  of  England,  besides  other  noblemen,  was  a  large 
stockholder.  Suppose  the  prince  of  Essling,  the  duke  of  Cadore, 
and  other  French  dignitaries  owned  seven  eighths  of  the 
capital  of  this  bank,  should  we  witness  the  same  exertions  (I  al 
lude  not  to  any  made  in  the  senate)  to  re-charter  it  ?  So  far  from 
it,  would  not  the  danger  of  French  influence  be  resounded 
throughout  the  nation  ? 

I  shall  therefore  give  my  most  hearty  assent  to  the  motion  for 
striking  out  the  first  section  of  the  bill 


INCREASE  OF  THE  NAVY. 

Speech  on  the  Navy  Bill,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  Januaiy  22, 1SI2. 

Mr.  Clay  (the  speaker)  rose  to  present  his  views  on  the  bill  before 
the  committee.  He  said,  as  lie  did  not  precisely  agree  in  opinion 
with  any  gentleman  who  had  spoken,  he  should  take  the  liberty 
of  detaining  the  committee  a  few  moments,  while  he  offered  to 
their  attention  some  observations.  He  was  highly  gratified  with 
the  temper  and  ability  with  which  the  discussion" had  hitherto 
been  conducted.  It  was  honorable  to  the  house,  and,  he  trusted, 
would  continue  to  be  manifested  on  many  future  occasions. 

On  this  interesting  topic  a  diversity  ol  opinion  has  existed  al 
most  ever  since  the  adoption  of  the  present  government.  On  the 
one  hand,  there  appeared  to  him  to  have  been  attempts  made  to 
precipitate  the  nation  into  all  the  evils  of  naval  extravagance, 
which  had  been  productive  of  so  much  mischief  in  other^coun- 
tries ;  and  on  the  other,  strongly  feeling  this  mischief,  there  has 
existed  an  unreasonable  prejudice  against  providing  such  a  com 
petent  naval  protection  for  our  commercial  and  maritime  rights 
as  is  demanded  by  their  importance,  and  as  the  increased  re 
sources  of  the  country  amply  justify. 

The  attention  of  Congress  has  been  invited  to  this  subject  by 
the  president,  in  his  message  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the 
session.  Indeed,  had  it  been  wholly  neglected  by  the  chief 
magistrate,  from  the  critical  situation  of  the  country,  and  the 
nature  of  the  rights  proposed  to  be  vindicated,  it  must  have 
pressed  itself  upon  our  attention.  But,  said  Mr.  Clay,  the  presi 
dent  in  his  message  observes:  "Your  attention  will,  of  course, 
be  drawn  to  such  provisions  on  the  subject  of  our  naval  force  as 
may  be  required  for  the  service  to  which  it  is  best  adapted.  I 
submit  to  Congress  the  seasonableness  also  of  an  authority  to 
augment  the  stock  of  such  materials  as  are  imperishable  in  their 
nature  or  may  not  at  once  be  attainable  ?"  The  president,  by 
this  recommendation,  clearly  intimates  an  opinion  that  the 
naval  force  of  this  country  is  capable  of  producing  effect;  and  the 


36  INCREASE  OF  THE  NAVY. 

propriety  of  laying  up  imperishable  materials,  was  no  doubt  sug 
gested  for  the  purpose  of  making  additions  to  the  navy,  as  con 
venience  and  exigences  might  direct. 

It  appeared  to  Mr.  C.  a  little  extraordinary  that  so  much,  as  it 
eeerned  to  him,  unreasonable  jealousy  should  exist  against  the 
naval  establishment.  If,  said  he,  we  look  back  to  the  period  of 
the  formation  of  the  constitution,  it  will  be  found  that  no  such 
jealousy  was  then  excited.  In  placing  the  physical  force  of  the 
nation  at  the  disposal  of  Congress,  the  convention  manifested 
much  greater  apprehension  of  abuse  in  the  power  given  to  raise 
armies,  than  in  that  to  provide  a  navy.  In  reference  to  the  navy, 
Congress  is  put  under  no  restrictions ;  but  with  respect  to  the 
army — that  description  of  force  which  has  been  so  often  employ 
ed  to  subvert  the  liberties  of  mankind — they  are  subjected  to 
limitations  designed  to  prevent  the  abuse  of  this  dangerous 
power.  But  it  was  not  his  intention  to  detain  the  committtee  by 
a  discussion  on  the  comparative  utility  and  safety  of  these  two 
kinds  of  force.  He  would,  however,  be  indulged  in  saying,  that 
he  thought  gentlemen  had  wholly  failed  in  maintaining  the  posi 
tion  they  had  assumed,  that  the  tall  of  maratime  powers  was  at 
tributable  to  their  navies.  Th^y  have  told  you,  indeed,  that 
Carthage,  Genoa,  Venice,  and  other  nations,  had  navies,  and 
notwithstanding  were  finally  destroyed.  But 'have  they  shown 
by  a  train  of  argument,  that  their  overthrow  was,  in  any  degree, 
attributable  to  their  maratime  greatness  ?  Have  they  attempted 
even  to  show  that  there  exists^m  the  nature  of  this  power  a  ne 
cessary  tendency  to  destroy  the  nation  using  it  ?  Assertion  is 
substituted  for  argument ,  inferences  not  authorised  by  historical 
facts  are  arbitrarily  drawn ;  things  wholly  unconnected  with 
each  other  are  associated  together — a  very  logical  mode  of  rea 
soning  it  must  be  admitted !  In  the  same  way  he  could  demon 
strate  how  idle  and  absurd  our  attachments  are  to  freedom  itself. 
He  might  say,  for  example,  that  Greece  and  Rome  had  forms  of 
free  government,  and  that  they  no  longer  exist;  and,  deducing 
their"  fall  to  their  devotion  to  liberty,  the  conclusion,  in  favor  of 
despotism,  would  very  satisfactorily  follow !  He  demanded  what 
there  is  in  the  nature  and  construction  of  maritime  power  to  ex 
cite  the  fears  that  have  been  indulged  ?  Do  gentlemen  really 
apprehend  that  a  body  of  seamen  will  abandon  their  proper  ele 
ment,  and,  placing  themselves  under  an  aspiring  chief,  will  erect 
a  throne  to  his  ambition  ?  Will  they  deign  to  listen  to  the  voice 
of  history,  and  learn  how  chimerical  are  their  apprehensions  ? 

But  the  source  of  alarm  is  in  ourselves.  Gentlemen  fear  that 
if  we  provide  a  marine  it  will  produce  collisions  with  foreign 
nations — plunge  us  into  war,  and  ultimately  overturn  the  consti 
tution  of  the  country.  Sir,  if  you  wish  to  avoid  foreign  collision 
you  had  better  abandon  the  ocean — surrender  all  your  com 
merce;  give  up  all  vour  prosperity.  It  is  the  thing  protected, 
not  the  instrument  "of  protection,  that  involves  you  in  war. 
Commerce  engenders  collision,  collision  war,  and  war,  the  argu- 


INCREASE  OF  THE  NAVY.  37 

raent  supposes,  leads  to  despotism.  Would  the  councils  of  that 
statesman  be  deemed  wise  who  would  recommend  that  the  nation 
should  be  unarmed — that  the  art  of  war,  the  martial  spirit,  and 
martial  exercises,  should  be  prohibited — who  should  declare  in 
the  language  of  Othello  that  the  nation  must  bid  farewell  to  the 
neighing  steed,  and  the  shrill  trump,  the  spirit  stirring  drum,  the 
ear  piercing  fife,  and  all  the  pride,  pomp  and  circumstance  of 
glorious  war — and  that  the  great  body  of  the  people  should  be 
taught  that  the  national  happiness  was  to  be  found  in  perpetual 
peace  alone  1  No,  sir.  And  yet  every  argument  in  favor  of 
a  power  of  protection  on  land  applies,  in  some  degree,  to  a  power 
of  protection  on  the  sea.  Undoubtedly  a  commerce  void  of  naval 
protection  is  more  exposed  to  rapacity  than  a  guarded  commerce ; 
and  if  we  wish  to  invite  the  continuance  of  the  old  or  the  enact 
ment  of  new  edicts,  let  us  refrain  from  all  exertion  upon  that 
element  where  we  must  operate,  and  where,  in  the  end,  they 
must  be  resisted. 

For  his  part  (Mr.  C.  said)  he  did  not  allow  himself  to-be 
alarmed  by  those  apprehensions  of  maritime  power  which  ap 
peared  to  agitate  other  gentlemen.  In  the  nature  of  our  govern 
ment  he  beheld  abundant  security  against  abuse.  He  would  be 
unwilling  to  tax  the  land  to  support  the  rights  of  the  sea,  and 
was  for  drawing  from  the  sea  itself  the  resources  with  which  its 
violated  freedom  should  at  all  times  be  vindicated.  Whilst  .jthis 
principle  is  adhered  to,  there  will  be  no  danger  of  running  into  the 
folly  and  extravagance  which  so  much  alarms  gentlemen ;  and 
whenever  it  is  abandoned — whenever  Congress  shall  lay  burth- 
ensome  taxes  to  augment  the  navy  beyond  what  may  be  author 
ized  by  the  increase  of  wealth,  and  demanded  by  the  exigences 
of  the  country,  the  people  will  interpose,  and,  removing  their  un 
worthy  representatives,  apply  the  appropriate  corrective.  Mr. 
C.  then  could  not  see  any  just  ground  of  dread  in  the  nature  of 
naval  power.  It  was  on  the  contrary  free  from  the  evils  attend 
ant  upon  standing  armies.  And  the  genius  of  our  institutions — 
the  great  representative  principle,  in  the  practical  enjoyment  of 
which  we  are  so  eminently  distinguished,  afforded  the  best  guar 
antee  against  the  ambition  and  wasteful  extravagance  of  govern 
ment.  What  maritime  strength  is  it  expedient  to  provide  for  the 
United  States  ?  In  considering  this  subject,  three  different  de 
grees  of  naval  power  present  themselves.  In  the  first  place,  such 
a  force  as  would  be  capable  of  contending  with  that  which  cny 
other  nation  is  able  to  bring  on  the  ocean — a  force  that,  boldly 
scouring  every  sea,  would  challenge  to  combat  the  fleets  of  other 
powers  however  great.  He  admitted  it  was  impossible  at  this 
time,  perhaps  it  never  would  be  desirable,  for  this  country  to 
establish  so  extensive  a  navy.  Indeed  he  should  consider  it  as 
madness  in  the  extreme  in  this  government  to  attempt  to  provide 
a  navy  able  to  cope  with  the  fleets  of  Great  Britain,  wherever 
they  might  be  met. 
4 


38  ON  THE  INCREASE  OF  THE  NAVY. 

The  next  species  of  naval  power  to  which  he  would  advert,  is 
that  which,  without  adventuring  into  distant  seas,  and  keeping  ge 
nerally  in  our  own  harbors,  and  on  our  coasts,  would  be  competent 
to  beat  off  any  squadron  which  might  be  attempted  to  be  perma 
nently  stationed  in  our  waters.  His  friends  from  South  Carolina 
(Messrs.  Cheeves  and  Lowndes)  had  satisfactorily  shown  that,  to 
effect  this  object,  a  force  equivalent  only  to  one-third  of  that  which 
the  maintenance  of  such  a  squadron  must  require,  would  be  suffi 
cient — that  if,  for  example,  England  should  determine  to  station 
permanently  upon  our  coast  a  squadron  of  twelve  ships  of  the  line, 
it  would  require  for  this  service  thirty-six  ships  of  the  line,  one- 
third  in  port  repairing,  one-third  on  the  passage,  and  one-third 
on  the  station.  But  that  is  a  force  which  it  has  been  shown  that 
even  England,  with  her  boasted  navy,  could  not  spare  for  the 
American  service,  whilst  she  is  engaged  in  the  present  contest. 
Mr.  C.  said  that  he  was  desirous  of  seeing  such  a  force  as  he  had 
described,  that  is,  twelve  ships  of  the  line,  and  fifteen  or  twenty 
frigates,  provided  for  the  United  States;  but  he  admitted  that 
it  was  unattainable  in  the  present  situation  of  the  finances  of 
the  country.  He  contended,  however,  that  it  was  such  as  Con 
gress  ought  to  set  about  providing,  and  he  hoped  in  less  than  ten 
years  to  see  it  actually  established.  He  was  far  from  surveying 
the  vast  maritime  power  of  Great  Britain  with  the  desponding 
eye  with  which  other  gentlemen  beheld  it.  He  could  not  allow 
himself  to  be  discouraged  at  a  prospect  of  even  her  thousand 
ships.  This  country  only  required  resolution,  and  a  proper 
exertion  of  its  immense  resources,  to  command  respect,  and  to 
vindicate  every  essential  right.  When  we  consider  our  remote 
ness  from  Europe,  the  expense,  difficulty  and  perils  to  which  any 
squadron  would  be  exposed  while  stationed  off  our  coasts,  he 
entertained  no  doubt  that  the  force  to  which  he  referred  would 
ensure  the  command  of  our  own  seas.  Such  a  force  would  avail 
itself  of  our  extensive  sea-board  and  numerous  harbors,  every 
where  affording  asylums,  to  which  it  could  safely  retire  from  a 
superior  fleet,  or  from  which  it  could  issue  for  the  purpose  of  an 
noyance.  To  the  opinion  of  his  colleague,  (Mr.  McKee,)  who 
appeared  to  think  that  it  was  in  vain  for  us  to  make  any  struggle 
on  the  ocean,  he  would  oppose  the  sentiments  of  his  distinguished 
connexion,  the  heroic  Daviess,  who  fell  in  the  battle  of  Tippeca- 
noe.  [Here  Mr.  C.  read  certain  parts  of  a  work  written  by  Col. 
Daviess,  in  which  the  author  attempts  to  show,  that,  as  the  ag- 
oressions  upon  our  commerce  were  not  committed  by  fleets,  but 
by  single  vessels,  they  could  in  the  same  manner  be  best  retali 
ated:  that  the  force  of  about  twenty  or  thirty  frigates  would  be 
capable  of  inflicting  great  injury  on  English  commerce  by  pick 
ing  up  stragglers,  cutting  oil'  convoys,  and  seizing  upon  every 
moment  of  supineness ;  and  that  such  a  force,  with  our  sea-ports 
and  harbors  well  fortified,  and  aided  by  privateers,  would  be 
really  formidable,  and  would  annoy  the  British  navy  and  com- 


ON  THE  INCREASE  OF  THE  NAVY.  39 

merce,  just  as  the  French  army  was  assailed  in  Egypt,  the 
Persian  army  in  Scythia,  and  the  Roman  army  in  Parthia.] 

The  third  description  of  force,  worthy  of  consideration,  is  that 
which  would  be  able  to  prevent  any  single  vessel,  of  whatever 
metal,  from  endangering  our  whole  coasting  trade,  blocking  up 
our  harbors,  and  laying  under  contribution  our  cities — a  force 
competent  to  punish  the  insolence  of  the  commander  of  any 
single  ship,  and  to  preserve  in  our  own  jurisdiction  the  inviola 
bility  of  our  peace  and  our  laws.  A  force  of  this  kind  is  entirely 
within  the  compass  of  our  means,  at  this  time.  Is  there  a  re 
flecting  man  in  the  nation  who  would  not  charge  Congress  with 
a  culpable  neglect  of  its  duty,  if,  for  the  want  of  such  a  force,  a 
single  ship  were  to  bombard  one  of  our  cities !  Would  not 
every  honorable  member  of  the  committee  inflict  on  himself  the 
bitterest  reproaches,  if,  by  failing  to  make  an  inconsiderable  ad 
dition  to  our  little  gallant  navy,  a  single  British  vessel  should 
place  New- York  under  contribution !  Yes,  sir,  wiien  the  city  is 
in  flames,  its  wretched  inhabitants  begin  to  repent  of  their  neg 
lect,  in  not  providing  engines  and  water  buckets.  If,  said  Mr. 
C.,  we  are  not  able  to  meet  the  wolves  of  the  forest,  shall  wre  put 
up  with  the  barking  impudence  of  every  petty  cur  that  trips 
across  our  way?  Because  we  cannot  guard  against  every  pos 
sible  danger,  shall  we  provide  against  none?  He  hoped  not. 
He  had  hardly  expected  that  the  instructing  but  humiliating 
lesson  was  so  soon  to  be  forgotten  wThich  was  taught  us  in  the 
murder  of  Pierce — the  attack  on  the  Chesapeake — and  the  insult 
offered  in  the  very  harbor  of  Charleston,  which  the  brave  old 
fellow  who  commanded  the  fort  in  vain  endeavored  to  chastise. 
It  was  a  rule  with  Mr.  C.,  when  acting  either  in  a  public  or  pri 
vate  character,  to  attempt  nothing  more  than  what  there  existed 
a  prospect  of  accomplishing.  He  was  therefore  not  in  favor  of 
entering  into  any  mad  projects  on  this  subject,  but  for  delibe 
rately  and  resolutely  pursuing  what  he  believed  to  be  within  the 
power  of  government.  Gentlemen  refer  to  the  period  of  1798, 
and  we  are  reminded  of  the  principles  maintained  by  the  oppo 
sition  at.  that  time.  He  had  no  doubt  of  the  correctness  of  that 
opposition.  The  naval  schemes  of  that  day  were  premature,  not 
warranted  by  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  were  contempla 
ted  for  an  unnecessary  war  into  which  the  nation  was  about  to 
be  plunged.  He  always  admired  and  approved  the  zeal  and 
ability  with  which  that  opposition  was  conducted  by  the  distin 
guished  gentleman  now  at  the  head  of  the  treasury.  But  the 
state  of  things  is  totally  altered.  What  was  folly  in  1798  may  be 
wisdom  now.  At  that  time  we  had  a  revenue  only  of  about  six 
millions.  Our  revenue  now,  upon  a  supposition  that  commerce  is 
restored,  is  about  sixteen  millions.  The  population  of  the  country 
too  is  greatly  increased,  nearly  doubled,  and  the  wealth  of  the 
nation  is  perhaps  tripled.  Whilst  our  ability  to  construct  a  navy 
is  thus  enhanced,  the  necessary  maritime  protection  is  propor- 
tionably  augmented.  Independent  of  the  extension  of  our  com- 


40  ON  THE  INCREASE  OP  THE  NAVY. 

merce,  since  the  year  1798  we  have  had  an  addition  of  more 
than  five  hundred  miles  to  our  coast,  from  the  bay  of  Perdido  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Sabine — a  weak  and  defenceless  accession, 
requiring,  more  than  any  other  part  of  our  maritime  frontier,  the 
protecting  arm  of  government 

The  groundless  imputation,  that  those  who  were  friendly  to  a 
navy  were  espousing  a  principle  inimical  to  freedom,  should  not 
terrify  him.  He  was  not  ashamed  when  in  such  company  as 
the  illustrious  author  of  the  notes  on  Virginia,  whose  opinion  on 
the  subject  of  a  navy,  contained  in  that  work,  contributed  to  the 
formation  of  his  own.  But  the  principle  of  a  navy,  Mr.  C.  con 
tended,  was  no  longer  open  to  controversy.  It  was  decided 
when  Mr.  Jefferson  came  into  power.  With  all  the  prejudices 
against  a  navy  which  are  alledged  by  some  to  have  been  then 
brought  into  the  administration — with  many  honest  prejudices, 
he  admitted — the  rash  attempt  was  not  made  to  destroy  the  es 
tablishment.  It  was  reduced  to  only  what  was  supposed  to  be 
within  the  financial  capacity  of  the  country.  If,  ten  years  ago, 
when  all  those  prejudices  were  to  be  combatted,  even  in  time 
of  peace,  it  was  deemed  proper,  by  the  then  administration,  to 
retain  in  service  ten  frigates,  he  put  it  to  the  candor  of  gentlemen 
to  say,  if  now,  when  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  war,  and  taking 
into  view  the  actual  growth  of  the  country,  and  the  acquisation 
of  our  coast  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  we  ought  not  to  add  to  tho 
establishment. 

Mr.  C.  said  he  had  hitherto  alluded  more  particularly  to  the 
exposed  situation  of  certain  parts  of  the  Atlantic  frontier. 
Whilst  he  felt  the  deepest  solicitude  for  the  safety  of  New- York, 
and  other  cities  on  the  coast,  he  would  be  pardoned  by  the  com 
mittee  for  referring  to  the  interests  of  that  section  of  the  union 
from  which  he  came.  If,  said  he,  there  be  a  point  more  than  any 
other  in  the  United  States,  demanding  the  aid  of  naval  protec 
tion,  that  point  is  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  What  is  the 
population  of  the  western  country,  dependant  on  this  single  out 
let  for  its  surplus  productions  ?  Kentucky,  according  to  the  last 
enumeration,  has  406,511,  Tennessee  261,727,  and  Ohio  230,760. 
And  when  the  population  of  the  western  parts  of  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  territories  which  are  drained  by  the  Mis- 
sisippi  or  its  waters,  is  added,  it  will  form  an  aggregate  equal  to 
about  one-fifth  of  the  whole  population  of  the  United  Stales, 
resting  all  their  commercial  hopes  upon  this  solitary  vent !  The 
bulky  articles  of  which  their  surplus  productions  consist,  can  be 
transported  no  other  way.  They  will  not  bear  the  expense  of  a 
carriage  up  the  Ohio  and  Tennessee,  and  across  the  mountains, 
and  the  circuitous  voyage  of  the  lakes  is  out  of  the  question. 
Whilst  most  other  states  have  the  option  of  numerous  outlets,  so 
that  if  one  be  closed  resort  can  be  had  to  others,  this  vast  popula 
tion  has  no  alternative.  Close  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and 
their  export  trade  is  annihilated.  He  called  the  attention  of  his 
western  friends,  especially  his  worthy  Kentucky  friends  (from 


ON  THE  INCREASE  OF  THE  NAVY.  41 

whom  he  felt  himself  with  regret  constrained  to  differ  on  this  oc 
casion)  to  the  state  of  the  public  feeling  in  that  quarter,  whilst 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  withheld  by  Spain  ;  and  to 
the  still  more  recent  period  when  the  right  of  depot  was  violated. 
The  whole  country  was  in  commotion,  and,  at  the  nod  of  govern 
ment,  would  have  fallen  on  Baton  Rouge  and  New-Orleans,  and 
punished  the  treachery  of  a  perfidious  government.  Abandon  all 
idea  of  protecting,  by  maritime  force,  the  mouth  of  the  Mississip 
pi,  and  we  shall  have  the  recurrence  of  many  similar  scenes. 
We  shall  hold  the  inestimable  right  of  the  navigation  of  that 
river  by  the  most  precarious  tenure.  The  whole  commerce  of 
the  Mississippi — a  commerce  that  is  destined  to  be  the  richest  that 
was  ever  borne  by  a  single  stream — is  placed  at  the  mercy  of  a 
single  ship  lying  off  the  Balize  !  Again  :  the  convulsions  of  the 
new  world,  still  more  perhaps  than  those  of  Europe,  challenge 
our  attention.  Whether  the  ancient  dynasty  of  Spain  is  still  to 
be  upheld  or  subverted,  is  extremely  uncertain,  if  the  bonds  con 
necting  the  parent  country  with  her  colonies  are  not  forever 
broken.  What  is  to  become  of  Cuba  ?  Will  it  assert  independ 
ence  or  remain  the  province  of  some  European  power?  In 
either  case  the  whole  trade  of  the  western  country,  which  must 
pass  almost  within  gun-shot  of  the  Moro  Castle,  is  exposed  to 
danger.  It  was  not  however  of  Cuba  he  was  afraid.  He  wished 
her  independent.  But  suppose  England  gets  possession  of  that 
valuable  island.  With  Cuba  on  the  south  and  Halifax  on  the 
north — and  the  consequent  means  of  favoring  or  annoying  com 
merce  of  particular  sections  of  the  country — he  asked  if  the  most 
sanguine  amongst  us  would  not  tremble  for  the  integrity  of  the 
Union  ?  If,  along  with  Cuba.  Great  Britain  should  acquire  East 
Florida,  she  will  have  the  absolute  command  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  Can  gentlemen,  particularly  gentlemen  from  the  wes 
tern  country,  contemplate  such  possible,  nay  probable,  events, 
without  desiring  to  see  at  least  the  commencement  of  such  a 
naval  establishment  as  would  effectually  protect  the  Mississippi? 
He  intreated  them  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  defenceless  situ 
ation  of  the  Orleans  Territory,  and  to  the  nature  of  its  popula 
tion.  It  is  known  that  whilst  under  the  Spanish  government 
they  experienced  the  benefit  of  naval  security.  Satisfy  them 
that  under  the  government  of  the  United  States,  they  will  enjoy 
less  protection,  and  you  disclose  the  most  fatal  secret. 

The  general  government  receives  annually  for  the  public 
lands,  about  $600.000.  One  of  the  sources  whence  the  western 
people  raise  this  sum,  is  the  exportation  of  the  surplus  produc 
tions  of  that  country.  Shut  up  the  Mississippi,  and  this  source 
is  in  a  great  measure  dried  up.  But  suppose  this  government  to 
look  upon  the  occlusion  of  the  Mississippi  without  making  an 
effort  on  that  element,  where  alone  it  could  be  made  successfully, 
to  remove  the  blockading  force,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  vigor 
ously  pressing  payment  for  the  public  lands ;  he  shuddered  at 
4* 


42  ON  THE  INCREASE  OF  THE  NAVY. 

the  consequences.  Deep  rooted  as  he  knew  the  affections  of 
the  western  people  to  be  to  the  Union,  (and  he  would  not  admit 
their  patriotism  to  be  surpassed  by  any  other  quarter  of  the 
country)  if  such  a  state  of  things  were  to  last  any  considerable 
time,  he  should  seriously  apprehend  a  withdrawal  of  their  confi 
dence.  Nor,  sir,  could  we  derive  any  apology  for  the  failure  to 
afford  this  protection  from  the  want  of  the  materials  for  naval 
architecture.  On  the  contrary,  all  the  articles  entering  into  the 
construction  of  a  navy,  iron,  hemp,  timber,  pitch,  abound  in  the 
greatest  quantities  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  Kentucky 
alone,  he  had  no  doubt,  raised  hemp  enough  the  last  year  for 
the  whole  consumption  of  the  United  States. 

If,  as  he  conceived,  gentlemen  had  been  unsuccessful  in  show 
ing  that  the  downfal  of  maritime  nations  was  ascribable  to  their 
navies,  they  have  been  more  fortunate  in  showing  by  the  in 
stances  to  which  they  had  referred,  that  without  a  marine  no 
foreign  commerce  could  exist  to  any  extent.  It,  is  the  appropri 
ate — the  natural  (if  the  term  may  be  allowed)  connexion  of  for 
eign  commerce.  The  shepherd  and  his  faithful  dog  are  not  more 
necessary  to  guard  the  flocks  that  browze  and  gambol  on  the 
neighboring  mountain.  He  considered  the  prosperity  of  foreign 
commerce  indissolubly  allied  to  marine  power.  Neglect  to  pro 
vide  the  one  and  you  must  abandon  the  other.  Suppose  the  ex 
pected  war  with  England  is  commenced,  you  enter  and  subjugate 
Canada,  and  she  still  refuses  to  do  you  justice — what  other  pos 
sible  mode  will  remain  to  operate  on  the  enemy  but  upon  that 
element  where  alone  you  can  then  come  in  contact  with  him  ? 
And  if  you  do  not  prepare  to  protect  there  your  own  commerce 
and  to  assail  his,  will  he  not  sweep  from  the  ocean  every  vessel 
bearing  your  flag,  and  destroy  even  the  coasting  trade  1  But 
from  the  arguments  of  gentlemen  it  would  seem  to  be  questioned 
if  foreign  commerce  is  worth  the  kind  of  protection  insisted  upon. 
What  Is  this  foreign  commerce  that  has  suddenly  become  so  in 
considerable  ?  It  has,  with  very  trifling  aid  from  other  sources, 
defrayed  the  expenses  of  government  ever  since  the  adoption  of 
the  present  constitution — maintained  an  expensive  and  successful 
war  with  the  Indians— a  war  with  the  Barbary  powers— a  quasi 
war  with  France — sustained  the  charges  of  suppressing  two  in 
surrections,  and  extinguishing  upwards  of  forty-six  millions  of  the 
public  debt.  In  revenue  it  has,  since  the  year  1789,  yielded  one 
hundred  and  ninety-one  millions  of  dollars.  During  the  first  four 
years  after  the  commencement  of  the  present  government,  the- 
revenue  averaged  only  about  two  millions  annually — during  a 
subsequent  period  of  four  years  it  rose  to  an  average  of  fifteen 
millions  annually,  or  became  equivalent  to  a  capital  of  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  at  an  interest  of  six  per  centum 
per  annum.  And  if  our  commerce  is  re-established,  it  will,  in  the 
course  of  time,  netta  sum  for  which  we  are  scarcely  furnished 
with  figures  in  arithmetic.  Taking  the  average  of  the  last  nine 
years  (comprehending  of  course  the  season  of  the  embargo)  our 


ON  THE  INCREASE  OF  THE  NAVY.  43 

exports  average  upwards  of  thirty-seven  millions  of  dollars, 
which  is  equivalent  to  a  capital  of  more  than  six  hundred  millions 
of  dollars,  at  six  per  centum  interest,  all  of  which  must  be  lost  in 
the  event  of  a  destruction  of  foreign  commerce.  In  the  abandon 
ment  of  that  commerce  is  also  involved  the  sacrifice  of  our  brave 
tars,  who  have  engaged  in  the  pursuit  from  which  they  derive 
subsistence  and  support,  under  the  confidence  that  government 
would  afford  them  that  just  protection  which  is  due  to  all.  They  will 
be  driven  into  foreign  employment,  for  it  is  vain  to  expect  that 
they  will  renounce  their  habits  of  life. 

The  spirit  of  commercial  enterprize  so  strongly  depicted  by 
the  gentleman  from  New-York  (Mr.  Mitchel)  is  diffused  through 
out  the  country.  It  is  a  passion  as  unconquerable  as  any  with 
which  nature  has  endowed  us.  You  may  attempt  indeed  to  reg 
ulate,  but  you  cannot  destroy  it.  It  exhibits  itself  as  well  on  the 
waters  of  the  western  country  as  on  the  waters  and  shores  of  the 
Atlantic.  Mr.  O.  had  heard  of  a  vessel  built  at  Pittsburgh  having 
crossed  the  Atlantic  and  entered  a  European  port,  (he  believed 
that  of  Leghorn.)  The  master  of  the  vessel  laid  his  papers  be 
fore  the  proper  custom  officer,  which,  of  course,  stated  the  place 
of  her  departure.  The  officer  boldly  denied  the  existence  of  any 
such  American  port  as  Pittsburgh,  and  threatened  a  seizure  of 
the  vessel  as  being  furnished  with  forged  papers.  The  affrighted 
master  procured  a  map  of  the  United  States,  and,  pointing  out 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  took  the  officer  to  the  mouth  of  the  Missis 
sippi — traced  the  course  of  the  Mississippi  more  than  a  thousand 
miles  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio ;  and  conducting  him  still  a 
thousand  miles  higher,  to  the  junction  of  the  Alleghany  and  Mo- 
nongahela — there,  he  exclaimed,  stands  Pittsburgh,  the  port 
from  which  I  sailed  !  The  custom-house  officer,  prior  to  the 
production  of  this  evidence,  would  have  as  soon  believed  that  the 
vessel  had  performed  a  voyage  from  the  moon. 

In  delivering  the  sentiments  he  had  expressed,  Mr.  C.  consid 
ered  himself  as  conforming  to  a  sacred  constitutional  duty. 
When  the  power  to  provide  a  navy  was  confided  to  Congress,  it 
must  have  been  the  intention  of  the  convention  to  submit  only  to 
the  discretion  of  that  body  the  period  when  that  power  should  be 
exercised.  That  period  had,  in  his  opinion,  arrived,  at  least  for 
making  a  respectable  beginning.  And  whilst  he  thus  discharg 
ed  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty,  he  derived  great  pleasure 
from  the  reflection  that  he  was  supporting  a  measure  calculated 
to  impart  additional  strength  to  our  happy  Union.  Diversified  as 
are  the  interests  of  its  various  parts,  how  admirably  do  they  har 
monize  and  blend  together  !  We  have  only  to  make  a  proper 
use  of  the  bounties  spread  before  us,  to  renderus  prosperous  and 
powerful.  Such  a  navy  as  he  had  contended  for,  will  form  a 
new  bond  of  connexion  between  the  states  concentrating  their 
hopes,  their  interests,  and  their  affections. 


44  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

Speech  on  the  New  Army  Bill,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  January,  1813 

Mr.  Clay  (the  speaker,)  said  he  was  gratified  yesterday  by  the 
recommitment  of  this  bill  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  house, 
from  two  considerations ;  one,  since  it  afforded  him  a  slight  re 
laxation  from  a  most  fatiguing  situation ;  and  the  other,  because 
it  furnished  him  with  an  opportunity  of  presenting  to  the  com 
mittee,  his  sentiments  upon  the  important  topics  which  had  been 
mingled  in  the  debate.  He  regretted,  however,  that  the  neces 
sity  under  which  the  chairman  had  been  placed  of  putting  the 
question,*  precluded  the  opportunity  he  had  wished  to  enjoy,  of 
rendering  more  acceptable  to  the  committee  any  thing  he  might 
have  to  offer  on  the  interesting  points,  on  which  it  was  his  duty 
to  touch.  Unprepared,  however,  as  he  was  to  speak  on  this  day, 
of  which  he  was  the  more  sensible,  from  the  ill  state  of  his  health, 
he  would  solicit  the  attention  of  the  committee  for  a  few  mo 
ments. 

I  was  a  little  astonished,  I  confess,  said  Mr.  C.,  when  I  found 
this  bill  permitted  to  pass  silently  through  the  committee  of  the 
whole,  and,  not  selected,  until  the  moment  when  the  question  was 
about  to  be  put  for  its  third  reading,  as  the  subject  on  which  gen 
tlemen  in  the  opposition  chose  to  lay  before  the  House  their  views 
of  the  interesting  attitude  in  which  the  nation  stands.  It  did  ap 
pear  to  me,  that  the  Loan  bill,  which  will  soon  come  before  us, 
would  have  afforded  a  much  more  proper  occasion,  it  being  more 
essential,  as  providing  the  ways  and  means  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  war.  But  the  gentlemen  had  the  right  of  selection,  and 
having  exercised  it,  no  matter  how  improperly,  I  am  gratified, 
whatever  I  may  think  of  the  character  of  some  part  of  the  de 
bate,  at  the  latitude  in  which  for  once,  they  have  been  indulged. 
I  claim  only,  in  return,  of  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of  the 
House,  and  of  the  committee,  a  like  indulgence  in  expressing  my 
sentiments,  with  the  same  unrestrained  freedom.  Perhaps  in  the 
course  of  the  remarks  which  I  may  feel  myself  called  upon  to 
make,  gentlemen  may  apprehend  that  they  assume  too  harsh  an 
aspect ;  but  I  have  only  now  to  say,  that  I  shall  speak  of  parties, 
measures,  and  things,  as  they  strike  my  moral  sense,  protesting 
against  the  imputation  of  any  intention,  on  my  part,  to  wound 
the  feelings  of  any  gentlemen. 

Considering  the  situation  in  which  this  country  is  now  placed 
— a  state  of  actual  war  with  one  of  the  most  powerful  nations  on 
the  earth — it  may  not  be  useless  to  take  a  view  of  the  past,  and 
of  the  various  parties  which  have  at  different  times  appeared  in 

*  The  chairman  had  risen  to  put  the  question,  which  would  have  cut  Mr.  C.  off 
foom  the  opportunity  of  speaking,  by  carrying  the  bill  to  the  House.— Editor* 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  45 

this  country,  and  to  attend  to  the  manner  by  which  we  have  been 
driven  from  a  peaceful  posture,  to  our  present  warlike  attitude. 
Such  an  inquiry  may  assist  in  guiding  us  to  that  result,  an  hono- 
<-able  peace,  which  must  be  the  sincere  desire  of  every  friend  to 
America.     The  course  of  that  opposition,  by  which  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  government  had  been  unremittingly  impeded  for 
the  last  twelve  years,  was  singular,  and,  I  believe,  unexampled 
in  the  history  of  any  country.    It  has  been  alike  the  duty  and  the 
interest  of  the  administration  to  preserve  peace.    It  was  their 
duty,  because  it  is  necessary  to  the  growth  of  an  infant  people, 
to  their  genius,  and  to  their  habits.     It  was  their  interest,  because 
a  change  of  the  condition  of  the  nation  brings  along  with  it  a 
danger  of  the  loss  of  the  affections  of  the  people.     The  adminis 
tration  has  not  been  forgetful  of  these  solemn  obligations.    No 
art  has  been  left  unassayed ;  no  experiment,  promising  a  favora 
ble  result,  left  untried,  to  maintain  the  peaceful  relations  of  the 
country.     When,  some  six  or  seven  years  ago,  the  affairs  of  the 
nation  assumed  a  threatening  aspect,  a  partial  non-importation 
was  adopted.     As  they  grew  more  alarming,  an  embargo  was 
imposed.     It  would  have  accomplished  its  purpose,  but  it  was 
sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of  conciliation.     Vain  and  fruitless  at 
tempt  to  propitiate !     Then  came  along  non-intercourse ;  and  a 
general  non-importation  followed  in  the  train.  In  the  mean  time, 
any  indications  of  a  return  to  the  public  law  and  the  path  of  jus 
tice,  on  the  part  of  either  belligerent,  are  seized  upon  with  avidi 
ty  by  the  administration — the  arrangement  with  Mr.  Erskine  is 
concluded.     It  is  first  applauded,  and  then  censured  by  the  op 
position.    No  matter  with  what  unfeigned  sincerity,  with  what 
real  effort  administration  cultivates  peace,  the  opposition  insist 
that  it  alone  is  culpable  for  every  breach  that  is  made  between 
the  two  countries.    Because  the  President  thought  proper,  in  ac 
cepting  the  proffered  reparation  for  the  attack  on  a  national  ves 
sel,  to  intimate  that  it  would  have  better  comported  with  the  jus 
tice  of  the  king,  (and  who  does  not  think  so?)  to  punish  the 
offending  officer,  the  opposition,  entering  into  the  royal  feelings, 
sees  in  that  imaginary  insult,  abundant  cause  for  rejecting  Mr. 
Erskine's  arrangement     On  another  occasion,  you  cannot  have 
forgotten  the  hypocritical  ingenuity  which  they  displayed,  to  di 
vest  Mr.  Jackson's  correspondence  of  a  premeditated  insult  to 
this  country.    If  gentlemen  would  only  reserve  for  their  own 
government,  half  the  sensibility  which  is  indulged  for  that  of 
Great  Britain,  they  would  find  much  less  to  condemn.     Restric 
tion  after  restriction  has  been  tried — negotiation  has  been  resort 
ed  to,  until  further  negotiation  would  have  been  disgraceful. 
Whilst  these  peaceful  experiments  are  undergoing  a  trial,  what 
is  the  conduct  of  the  opposition  ?     They  are  the  champions  of 
war— the  proud— the  spirited— the  sole  repository  of  the  nation's 
honor — the  men  of  exclusive  vigor  and  energy.     The  adminis 
tration,  on  the  contrary,  is  weak,  feeble,  and  pusillanimous—"  in 
capable  of  being  kicked  into  a  war."    The  maxim,  "  not  a  cent 


46  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

for  tribute,  millions  for  defence,"  is  loudly  proclaimed.  Is  the 
administration  for  negotiation?  The  opposition  is  tired,  sick, 
disgusted  with  negotiation.  They  want  to  draw  the  sword  and 
avenge  the  nation's  wrongs.  When,  however,  foreign  nations, 
perhaps,  emboldened  by  the  very  opposition  here  made,  refuse 
to  listen  to  the  amicable  appeals,  which  have  been  repeated  and 
reiterated  by  the  administration,  to  their  justice  and  to  their  in 
terests — when,  in  fact,  war  with  one  of  them  has  become  identi 
fied  with  our  independence  and  our  sovereignty,  and  to  abstain 
fom  it  was  no  longer  possible,  behold  the  opposition  veering 
round  and  becoming  the  friends  of  peace  and  commerce.  They 
tell  you  of  the  calamities  of  war — its  tragical  events,  the  squan 
dering  away  of  your  resources — the  waste  of  the  public  treasure, 
and  the  spilling  of  innocent  blood.  ''  Gorgons,  hydras  and  chi 
meras  dire."  They  tell  you  that  honor  is  an  illusion !  Now  we 
see  them  exhibiting  the  terrific  forms  of  the  roaring  king  of  the 
forest.  Now  the  meekness  and  humility  of  the  lamb  !  They  are 
for  war  and  no  restrictions,  when  the  administration  is  for  peace. 
They  are  for  peace  and  restrictions,  when  the  administration  is 
for  war.  You  find  them,  sir,  tacking  with  every  gale,  displaying 
the  colors  of  every  party,  and  of  all  nations,  steady  only  in  one 
unalterable  purpose,  to  steer,  if  possible,  into  the  haven  of  power. 
During  all  this  time,  the  parasites  of  opposition  do  not  fail  by 
cunning  sarcasm  or  sly  inuendo  to  throw  out  the  idea  of  French 
influence,  which  is  known  to  be  false,  which  ought  to  be  met  in 
one  manner  only,  and  that  is  by  the  lie  direct.  The  administra 
tion  of  this  country  devoted  to  foreign  influence !  The  adminis 
tration  of  this  country  subservient  to  France!  Great  God!  what 
a  charge  !  how  is  it  so  influenced  ?  By  what  ligament,  on  what 
basis,  on  what  possible  foundation  does  it  rest  ?  Is  it  similarity 
of  language  ?  No !  we  speak  different  tongues,  we  speak  the 
English  language.  On  the  resemblance  of  our  laws?  No  !  the 
sources  of  our  jurisprudence  spring  from  another  and  a  different 
country.  On  commercial  intercourse  ?  No  !  we  have  compara 
tively  none  with  France.  Is  it  from  the  correspondence  in  the 
genius  of  the  two  governments  ?  No !  here  alone  is  the  liberty 
of  man  secure  from  the  inexorable  despotism,  which  everywhere 
else  tramples  it  under  foot.  Where  then  is  the  ground  of  such 
an  influence?  But,  sir,  I  am  insulting  you  by  arguing  on  such 
a  subject.  Yet,  preposterous  and  ridiculous  as  the  insinuation 
is,  it  is  propagated  with  so  much  industry,  that  there  are  persons 
found  foolish  and  credulous  enough  to  believe  it  You  will,  no 
doubt,  think  it  incredible  (but  I  have  nevertheless  been  told  it  as 
a  fact.)  that  an  honorable  member  of  this  house,  now  in  my  eye, 
recently  lost  his  election  by  the  circulation  of  a  silly  story  in  his 
district,  that  he  was  the  first  cousin  of  the  emperor  Napoleon. 
The  proof  of  the  charge  rested  on  the  statement  of  facts,  which 
was  undoubtedly  true.  The  gentleman  in  question,  it  was  al- 
ledged,  had  married  a  connexion  of  the  lady  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  who  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Thomas  Jet" 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  47 

ferson,  late  President  of  the  United  States,  who  some  years  ago 
was  in  the  habit  of  wearing  red  French  breeches.  Now,  taking 
these  premises  as  established,  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  are  too  good 
a  logician  not  to  see  that  the  conclusion  necessarily  follows  ! 

Throughout  the  period  he  had  been  speaking  of,  the  opposition 
has  been  distinguished,  amidst  all  its  veerings  and  changes,  by 
another  inflexible  feature — the  application  to  Bonaparte  of  every 
vile  and  opprobrious  epithet,  our  language,  copious  as  it  is  in 
terms  of  vituperation,  affords.     He  has  been  compared  to  every 
nideous  monster  and  beast,  from  that  mentioned  in  the  Revela 
tions,  down  to  the  most  insignificant  quadruped.     He  has  been 
called  the  scourge  of  mankind,  the  destroyer  of  Europe,  the 
great  robber,  the  infidel,  the  modern  Attilo,  and  heaven  knows 
by  what  other  names.     Really,  gentlemen  remind  me  of  an 
obscure  lady,  in  a  city  not  very  far  off,  who  also  took  it  into  her 
head,  in  conversation  with  an  accomplished  French  gentleman, 
to  talk  of  the  affairs  of  Europe.     She  too  spoke  of  the  destruction 
of  the  balance  of  power,  stormed  and  raged  about  the  insatiable 
ambition  of  the  Emperor ;  called  him  the  curse  of  mankind,  the 
destroyer  of  Europe.     The  Frenchman  listened   to   her  with 
perfect  patience,  and,  when  she  had  ceased,  said  to  her,  with 
ineffable  politeness,  "Madam,  it  would  give  my  master,  the  Em 
peror,  infinite  pain,  if  he  knew  how  hardly  you  thought  of  him." 
Sir,  gentlemen  appear  to  me  to  forget  that  they  stand  on  Ameri 
can  soil;  that  they  are  not  in  the  British  House  of  Commons, 
but  in  the  chamber  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Uni 
ted  States;  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  Europe, 
the  partition  of  territory  and  sovereignty  there,  except  so  far  as 
these  things  affect  the  interests  of  our  own  country.     Gentlemen 
transform  themselves  into  the  Burkes,  Chathams  and  Pitts  of 
another  country,  and  forgetting,  from  honest  zeal,  the  interests 
of  America,  engage  with  European  sensibility  in  the  discussion 
of  European  interests.     If  gentlemen  ask  me  whether  I  do  not 
view  with  regret  and  horror  the  concentration  of  such  vast  power 
in  the  hands  of  Bonaparte,  I  reply  that  I  do.     I  regret  to  see  the 
Ernperor  of  China  holding  such  immense  sway  over  the  fortunes 
of  millions  of  our  species.     I  regret  to  see  Great  Britain  pos 
sessing  so  uncontrolled  a  command  over  all  the  waters  of  our 
globe.    If  I  had  the  ability  to  distribute  among  the  nations  of 
Europe  their  several  portions  of  power  and  sovereignty,  I  would 
say  that  Holland  should  be  resuscitated,  and  given  the  weight 
she  enjoyed  in  the   days  of  her  De  Witts.    I  would  confine 
France  within  her  natural  boundaries,  the  Alps,  Pyrenees,  and 
the  Rhine,  and  make  her  a  secondary  naval  power  only.     I 
would  abridge  the  British  maritime  power,  raise  Prussia  and 
Austria  to  their  original  condition,  and  preserve  the  integrity  of 
the  empire  of  Russia.    But  these  are  speculations.    I  look  at  the 
political  transactions  of  Europe,  with  the  single  exception  of 
their  possible  bearing  upon  us,  as  I  do  at  the  history  of  other 
countries,  or  other  times.    I  do  not  survey  them  with  half  the 


48  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

interest  that  I  do  the  movements  in  South  America.  .Our  politi 
cal  relations  with  them  is  much  less  important  than  it  is  supposed 
to  be.  I  have  no  fears  of  French  or  English  subjugation.  If  we 
are  united,  we  are  too  powerful  for  the  mightiest  nation  in  Eu 
rope,  or  all  Europe  combined.  If  we  are  separated  and  torn 
assunder,  we  shall  become  an  easy  prey  to  the  weakest  of  them. 
In  the  latter  dreadful  contingency,  our  country  will  not  be  worth 
preserving. 

Next  to  the  notice  which  the  opposition  has  found  itself  called 
upon  to  bestow  upon  the  French  Emperor,  a  distinguished  citizen 
of  Virginia,  formerly  President  of  the  United  States,  has  never 
for  a  moment  failed  to  receive  their  kindest  and  most  respectful 
attention.  An  honorable  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  (Mr. 
Q,uincy,)  of  whom  I  am  sorry  to  say  it  becomes  necessary  for 
me,  in  the  course  of  my  remarks,  to  take  some  notice,  has  alluded 
to  him  in  a  remarkable  manner.  Neither  his  retirement  from 
public  office,  his  eminent  services,  nor  his  advanced  age,  can 
exempt  this  patriot  from  the  coarse  assaults  of  party  malevo 
lence.  No,  sir,  in  1S01  he  snatched  from  the  rude  hand  of 
usurpation  the  violated  constitution  of  his  country,  and  that  is 
his  crime.  He  preserved  that  instrument,  in  form,  and  sub 
stance,  and  spirit,  a  precious  inheritance  for  generations  to  come, 
and  for  this  he  can  never  be  forgiven.  How  vain  and  impotent 
is  party  rage,  directed  against  such  a  man!  He  is  not  more 
elevated  by  his  lofty  residence,  upon  the  summit  of  his  own  fa 
vorite  mountain,  than  he  is  lifted,  by  the  serenity  of  his  mind, 
and  the  consciousness  of  a  well  spent  life,  above  the  malignant 
passions  and  bitter  feelings  of  the  day.  No!  his  own  beloved 
Monticello,  is  not  more  moved  by  the  storms  tliat  beat  against 
its  sides,  than  is  this  illustrious  man,  by  the  bowlings  of  the 
whole  British  pack  set  loose  from  the  Essex  kennel !  When  the 
gentleman  to  whom  I  have  been  compelled  to  allude  shall  have 
mingled  his  dust  with  that  of  his  abused  ancestors— when  he 
shall  have  been  consigned  to  oblivion,  or,  if  he  lives  at  all,  shall 
live  only  in  the  treasonable  annals  of  a  certain  junto,  the  name 
of  Jefferson  will  be  hailed  with  gratitude,  his  memory  honored 
and  cherished  as  the  second  founder  of  the  liberties  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  the  period  of  his  administration  will  be  looked  back  to 
as  one  of  the  happiest  and  brightest  epochs  of  American  histo 
ry;*  an  Oasis  in  the  midst  of  a  sandy  desert.  But  I  beg  the 
gentleman's  pardon ;  he  has  indeed  secured  to  himself  a  more 
imperishable  fame  than  I  had  supposed.  I  think  it  was  about 
four  years  ago  that  he  submitted  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
an  initiative  proposition  for  an  impeachment  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 
The  House  condescended  to  consider  it.  The  gentleman  debated 
it  with  his  usual  temper,  moderation  and  urbanity.  The  House 
decided  upon  it  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  and,  although  the 
gentleman  had  some  how  obtained  a  second,  the  final  vote  stood, 
one  for,  and  one  hundred  and  seventeen  against  the  proposition ! 

*This  prediction  is  already  beginning  to  be  realized.— ED. 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  49 

The  same  historic  page  that  transmitted  to  posterity  the  virtue 
and  the  glory  of  Henry  the  Great  of  France,  for  their  admiration 
and  example,  has  preserved  the  infamous  name  of  the  fanatic 
assassin  of  that  excellent  monarch.  The  same  sacred  pen  that 
portrayed  the  sufferings  and  crucifixion  of  the  Saviour  of  man 
kind,  has  recorded,  for  universal  execration,  the  name  of  him 
who  was  guilty,  not  of  betraying  his  country,  but  (a  kindred 
crime,)  of  betraying  his  God. 

In  one  respect  there  is  a  remarkable  difference  between  the 
administration  and  the  opposition; — it  is  in  a  sacred  regard  for 
personal  liberty.  When  out  of  power  my  political  friends  con 
demned  the  surrender  of  Jonathan  Robbins,  they  opposed  the 
violation  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  in  the  sedition  law ;  they 
opposed  the  more  insidious  attack  upon  the  freedom  o"  the  person 
under  the  imposing  garb  of  an  alien  law.  The  party  now  in 
opposition,  then  in  power,  advocated  the  sacrifice  of  the  unhappy 
Robbins,  and  passed  those  two  laws.  True  to  our  principles, 
we  are  now  struggling  for  the  liberty  of  our  seamen  against 
foreign  oppression.  True  to  theirs,  they  oppose  a  war  underta 
ken  for  this  object.  They  have  indeed  lately  affected  a  tender 
sojicitude  for  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  talk  of  the  danger 
of  standing  armies,  and  the  burden  of  taxes.  But  it  must  be 
evident  to  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  they  speak  in  a  foreign  idiom. 
Their  brogue  evinces  that  it  is  not  their  vernacular  tongue. 
What!  the  opposition  who,  in  1798  and  1799,  could  raise  an 
useless  army  to  fight  an  enemy  three  thousand  miles  distant  from 
us,  alarmed  at  the  existence  of  one  raised  for  a  known  and  spe 
cified  object — the  attack  of  the  adjoining  provinces  of  the  ene 
my.  What!  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  who  assisted 
by  his  vote  to  raise  the  army  of  25.000,  alarmed  at  the  danger 
of  our  liberties  from  this  very  army ! 

But,  eir,  I  must  speak  of  another  subject,  which  I  never  think  of 
but  with  feelings  of  the  deepest  awe.  The  gentleman  from  Massa 
chusetts,  in  imitation  of  some  of  his  predecessors  of  1799,  has 
entertained  us  with  a  picture  of  cabinet  plots,  presidential  plots, 
and  all  sorts  of  plots,  which  have  been  engendered  by  the  dis 
eased  state  of  the  gentleman's  imagination.  I  wish,  sir,  that 
another  plot  of  a  much  more  serious  and  alarming  character, — a 
plot  that  aims  at  the  dismemberment  of  our  Union,  had  only  the 
same  imaginary  existence.  But  no  man,  who  has  paid  any  at 
tention  to  the  tone  of  certain  prints,  and  to  transactions  in  a  par 
ticular  quarter  of  the  Union,  for  several  years  past,  can  doubt 
the  existence  of  such  a  plot.  It  was  far,  very  far  from  my  inten 
tion  to  charge  the  opposition  with  such  a  design.  No,  I  believe 
them  generally  incapable  of  it.  But  I  cannot  say  as  much  for 
some,  who  have  been  unworthily  associated  with  them  in  the 
quarter  of  the  Union  to  which  I  have  referred.  The  gen 
tleman  cannot  have  forgotten  his  own  sentiment,  uttered  even  ( 
the  floor  of  this  house,  "peaceably  if  we  can,  FORCIBLY  if  we 
o 


50  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

must ;"  nearly  at  the  very  time  Henry's  mission  to  Boston  wan 
undertaken.  The  flagitiousness  of  that  embassy  had  been  at 
tempted  to  be  concealed,  by  directing  the  public  attention  to  the 
price  which,  the  gentleman  says,  was  given  for  the  disclosure. 
As  if  any  price  could  change  the  atrociousness  of  the  attempt  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain,  or  could  extenuate,  in  the  slightest  de 
gree,  the  offence  of  those  citizens,  who  entertained  and  deliber 
ated  upon  a  proposition  so  infamous  and  unnatural!  There  was  a 
most  remarkable  coincidence  between  some  of  the  things  which 
that  man  states,  and  certain  events  in  the  quarter  alluded  to.  In 
the  contingency  of  a  war  with  Great  Britain,  it  will  be  recollect 
ed  that  the  neutrality  and  eventual  separation  of  that  section  of 
the  Union  was  to  be  brought  about.  How,  sir,  has  it  happened, 
since  the  declaration  of  war,  that  British  officers  in  Canada  have 
asserted  to  American  officers,  that  this  very  neutrality  would  take 
place  ?  That  they  have  so  asserted  can  be  established  beyond 
controversy.  The  project  is  not  brought  forward  openly,  with  a 
direct  avowal  of  the  intention.  No,  the  stock  of  good  sense  and 
patriotism  in  that  portion  of  the  country  is  too  great  to  be  undis- 
guisedly  encountered.  It  is  assailed  from  the  masked  batteries 
of  friendship,  of  peace  and  commerce  on  the  one  side,  and  by  the 
groundless  imputation  of  opposite  propensities  on  the  other.  The 
affections  of  the  people  there,  are  gradually  to  be  undermined. 
The  project  is  suggested  or  withdrawn;  the  diabolical  dramatis 
persona,  in  this  criminal  tragedy,  make  their  appearance,  or  exit, 
as  the  audience,  to  whom  they  address  themselves,  applaud,  or 
condemn.  I  was  astonished  sir,  in  reading  lately  a  letter,  or  pre 
tended  letter,  published  in  a  prominent  print  in  that  quarter,  and 
written  not  in  the  fervor  of  party  zeal,  but  coolly  and  dispassion 
ately,  to  find  that  the  writer  affected  to  reason  about  a  separation, 
and  attempted  to  demonstrate  its  advantages  to  the  different  por 
tions  of  the  Union, — deploring  the  existence  now  of  what  he 
terms  prejudices  against  it.  but  hoping  for  the  arrival  of  the  pe 
riod  when  they  shall  be  eradicated!  But,  sir,  I  will  quit  this  un 
pleasant  subject;  I  will  turn  from  one,  whom  no  sense  of  decenc^ 
or  propriety  could  restrain  from  soiling  the  carpet  on  which  1 
treads,*  to  gentlemen  who  have  not  forgotten  what  is  due  to 
themselves,  to  the  place  in  which  we  are  assembled,  or  to  thos* 
by  whom  they  are  opposed.  The  gentlemen  from  North  Carolina. 
(Mr.  Pearson,)  from  Connecticut,  (Mr.  Pitkin.)  and  from  New 
York,  (Mr.  Bleeker,)  have,  with  their  usual  decorum,  contended 
that  the  war  would  not  have  been  declared,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  duplicity  of  France,  in  withholding  an  authentic  instrument, 
repealing  the  decrees  of  Berlin  and  Milan,  that  upon  the  exhib 
ition  of  such  an  instrument  the  revocation  cf  the  orders  in  council 
took  place ;  that  this  main  cause  of  the  war,  but  for  which  '* 
would  not  have  been  declared,  being  removed,  the  administru 

*  It  is  due  to  Mr.  C.  to  observe,  that  one  of  the  most  ofTensive  expressions  used  ' 
Mr.  Q.,  an  expression  which  produced  disgust  on  all  sides  of  the  house,  has  beeu 
omitted  in  that  gentleman's  reported  speech,  which  in  other  respects  bas  been  much 
softened.— Editor. 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  51 

lion  ought  to  seek  for  the  restoration  of  peace  ;  and  that  upon  its 
sincerely  doing  so,  terms  compatible  with  the  honor  and  interest 
of  this  country  might  be  obtained.  It  is  my  purpose,  said  Mr.  C. 
to  examine,  first,  into  the  circumstances  under  which  the  war  was 
declared ;  secondly,  into  the  causes  of  continuing  it ;  and  lastly, 
into  the  means  which  have  been  taken,  or  ought  to  be  taken  to 
procure  peace  ;  but  sir,  I  am  really  so  exhausted  that,  little  as  I 
am  in  the  habit  of  asking  of  the  house  an  indulgence  of  this  kind, 
I  feel  I  must  trespass  on  their  goodness. 

[Here  Mr.  C.  sat  down.  Mr.  Newton  then  moved  that  the  com 
mittee  rise,  report  progress  and  ask  leave  to  sit  again,  which  was 
done.  On  the  next  day  he  proceeded.] 

I  am  sensible,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  some  part  of  the  debate,  to 
which  this  bill  has  given  rise,  has  been  attended  by  circum 
stances  much  to  be  regretted,  not  usual  in  this  House,  and  of 
which  it  is  to  be  hoped,  there  will  be  no  repetition.  The  gentle 
man  from  Boston  had  so  absolved  himself  from  every  rule  of  de 
corum  and  propriety,  had  so  outraged  all  decency,  that  I  have 
found  it  impossible  to  suppress  the  feelings  excited  on  the  occasion. 
His  colleague,  whom  I  have  the  honor  to  follow,  (Mr.  Wheaton,) 
whatever  else  he  might  not  have  proved,  in  his  very  learned,  in 
genious  and  original  exposition  of  the  powers  of  this  govern 
ment — an  exposition  in  which  he  has  sought,  where  nobody  be 
fore  him  has,  and  nobody  after  him  will,  look,  for  a  grant  of  our 
powers,  I  mean  the  preamble  to  the  constitution, — has  clearly 
shown,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  who  heard  him,  that  the  power 
of  defensive  war  is  conferred.  I  claim  the  benefit  of  a  similar 
principle,  in  behalf  of  my  political  friends,  against  the  gentleman 
from  Boston.  I  demand  only  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  repul 
sion.  No  one  is  more  anxious  than  I  am  to  preserve  the  dignity 
and  freedom  of  debate — no  member  is  more  responsible  for  its 
abuse,  and  if,  on  this  occasion,  its  just  limits  have  been  violated, 
let  him,  who  has  been  the  unprovoked  aggressor,  appropriate  to 
himself,  exclusively,  the  consequences. 

I  omitted  yesterday,  sir,  when  speaking  of  a  delicate  and  pain 
ful  subject,  to  notice  a  powerful  engine  which  the  conspirators 
against  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  employ  to  effect  their  nefari 
ous  purposes — I  mean  southern  influence.  The  true  friend  to  his 
country,  knowing  that  our  constitution  was  the  work  of  compro 
mise,  in  which  interests  apparently  conflicting  were  attempted  to 
be  reconciled,  aims  to  extinguish  or  allay  prejudices.  But  this 
patriotic  exertion  does  not  suit  the  views  of  those  who  are  urged 
on  by  diabolical  ambition.  They  find  it  convenient  to  imagine 
the  existence  of  certain  improper  influences,  and  to  propagate 
with  their  utmost  industry  a  belief  of  them.  Hence  the  idea  of 
southern  preponderance, — Virginia  influence, — the  yoking  of  the 
respectable  yeomanry  of  the  north,  with  negro  slaves,  to  the  car 
of  southern  nabobs.  If  Virginia  really  cherished  a  reprehensible 
ambition,  an  aim  to  monopolize  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  coun 
try,  how  was  such  a  purpose  to  be  accomplished  ?  Virginia, 


52  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

alone,  cannot  elect  a  president,  whose  elevation  depends  upon  a 
plurality  of  electoral  votes,  and  a  consequent  concurrence  of 
many  states.  Would  Vermont,  disinterested  Pennsylvania,  the 
Carolinas,  independent  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ohio. 
Louisiana,  all  consent  to  become  the  tools  of  inordinate  ambition? 
But  the  present  incumbent  was  designated  to  the  office  before  his 
predecessor  had  retired.  How  ?  By  public  sentiment, — public 
sentiment  which  grew  out  of  his  known  virtues,  his  illustrious 
services,  and  his  distinguished  abilities.  Would  the  gentleman 
crush  this  public  sentiment, — is  he  prepared  to  admit  that  he 
would  arrest  the  progress  of  opinion  ? 

The  war  was  declared  because  Great  Britain  arrogated  to 
herself  the  pretension  of  regulating  our  foreign  trade,  under  the 
delusive  name  of  retaliatory  orders  in  council, — a  pretension  by 
which  she  undertook  to  proclaim  to  American  enterprize :  "  Thus 
far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther," — orders  which  she  refused  to 
revoke  after  the  alledged  cause  of  their  enactment  had  ceased ; 
because  she  persisted  in  the  practice  of  impressing  American 
seamen ;  because  she  had  instigated  the  Indians  to  commit  hos 
tilities  against  us ;  and  because  she  refused  indemnity  for  her 
past  injuries  upon  our  commerce.  I  throw  out  of  the  question 
other  wrongs.  The  war  in  fact  was  announced,  on  our  part,  to 
meet  the  war  which  she  was  waging  on  her  part.  So  undeni 
able  were  the  causes  of  the  war, — so  powerfully  did  they  address 
themselves  to  the  feelings  of  the  whole  American  people,  tha* 
when  the  bill  was  pending  before  this  House,  gentlemen  in  the 
opposition,  although  provoked  to  debate,  would  not  or  could  not 
utter  one  sylable  against  it.  It  is  true  they  wrapped  themselves 
up  in  sullen  silence,  pretending  they  did  not  choose  to  debate 
such  a  question  in  secret  session.  Whilst  speaking  of  the  pro 
ceedings  on  that  occasion,  I  beg  to  be  permitted  to  advert  to  an 
other  fact  which  transpired, — an  important  fact,  material  for  the 
nation  to  know,  and  which  I  have  often  regretted  had  not 
been  spread  upon  our  journals.  My  honorable  colleague  (Mr. 
M'Kee)  moved,  in  committee  of  the  whole,  to  comprehend 
France  in  the  war ;  and  when  the  question  was  taken  upon 
the  proposition,  there  appeared  but  ten  votes  in  support  of  it, 
of  whom  seven  belonged  to  this  side  of  the  House,  and  three 
only  to  the  other!  It  is  said  that  we  were  inveigled  into 
the  war  by  the  perfidy  of  France  j  and  that  had  she  furnished, 
the  document  in  time,  which  was  first  published  in  England, 
in  May  last,  it  would  have  been  prevented.  I  will  concede 
to  gentlemen  every  thing  they  ask  about  the  injustice  of 
France  towards  this  country.  I  wish  to  God  that  our  ability 
was  equal  to  our  disposition,  to  make  her  feel  the  sense  that  we 
entertain  of  that  injustice.  The  manner  of  the  publication  of 
the  paper  in  question,  was  undoubtedly  extremely  exceptionable. 
But  I  maintain  thalnad  it  made  its  appearance  earlier,  it  would 
not  have  had  the  effect  supposed  ;  and  the  proof  lies  in  the  une 
quivocal  declarations  of  the  British  government.  I  will  trouble 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  53 

you  sir,  with  going  no  further  back  than  to  the  letters  of  the 
British  minister,  addressed  to  the  secretary  of  state,  just  before 
the  expiration  of  his  diplomatic  functions.  It  will  be  recollected 
by  the  committee  that  he  exhibited  to  this  government  a  despatch 
from  Lord  Castlereagh,  in  which  the  principle  was  distinctly 
avowed,  that  to  produce  the  effect  of  a  repeal  of  the  orders  in 
council,  the  French  decrees  must  be  absolutely  and  entirely  re 
voked  as  to  all  the  world,  and  not  as  to  America  alone.  A  copy 
of  that  despatch  was  demanded  of  him,  and  he  very  awkwardly 
evaded  it.  But  on  the  tenth  June,  after  the  bill  declaring  war 
had  actually  passed  this  house,  and  was  pending  before  the  sen 
ate,  (and  which,  I  have  no  doubt,  was  known  to  him,)  in  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Monroe,  he  says :  "  I  have  no  hesitation,  sir,  in  saying 
that  Great  Britain,  as  the  case  has  hitherto  stood,  never  did,  nor 
ever  could  engage,  without  the  greatest  injustice  to  herself  and 
her  allies,  as  well  as  to  other  neutral  nations,  to  repeal  her  orders 
as  affecting  America  alone,  leaving  them  in  force  against  other 
states,  upon  condition  that  France  would  except  singly  and 
specially,  America  from  the  operation  of  her  decrees."  On  the 
fourteenth  of  the  same  month,  the  bill  still  pending  before  the 
senate,  he  repeats :  "  I  will  now  say,  that  I  feel  entirely  author 
ized  to  assure  you,  that  if  you  can  at  any  time  produce  a  full  and 
unconditional  repeal  of  the  French  decrees,  as  you  have  a  right 
to  demand  it  in  your  character  of  a  neutral  nation,  and  that  it  be 
disengaged  from  any  question  concerning  our  maritime  rights, 
we  shall  be  ready  to  meet  you  with  a  revocation  of  the  orders  in 
council.  Previously  to  your  producing  such  an  instrument,  which 
I  am  sorry  to  see  you  regard  as  unnecessary,  you  cannot  ex 
pect  of  us  to  give  up  our  orders  in  council."  Thus,  sir,  you 
see  that  the  British  government  would  not  be  content  with  a 
repeal  of  the  French  decrees  as  to  us  only.  But  the  French 
paper  in  question  wras  such  a  repeal.  It  could  not  there 
fore  satisfy  the  British  government.  It  could  not  therefore 
have  induced  that  government,  had  it  been  earlier  promul 
gated,  to  repeal  the  orders  in  council.  It  could  not  therefore 
have  averted  the  \var.  The  withholding  of  it  did  not  occasion 
the  war,  and  the  promulgation  of  it  would  not  have  prevented 
the  war.  But  gentlemen  have  contended  that,  in  point  of  fact, 
it  did  produce  a  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council.  This  I  deny. 
After  it  made  its  appearance  in  England,  it  was  declared  by  one 
of  the  British  ministry,  in  parliament,  not  to  be  satisfactory. 
And  all  the  world  knows,  that  the  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council 
resulted  from  the  inquiry,  reluctantly  acceded  to  by  the  ministry, 
into  the  effect  upon  their  manufacturing  establishments,  of  our 
non-importation  law,  or  to  the  warlike  attitude  assumed  by  this 
government,  or  to  both.  But  it  is  said  that  the  orders  in  council 
are  withdrawn,  no  matter  from  what  cause ;  and  that  having 
been  the  sole  motive  for  declaring  the  war,  the  relations  of  peace 
ought  to  be  restored.  This  brings  me  to  the  examination  of  the 
G* 


54  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

grounds  for  continuing  the  present  hostilities  between  this  coun 
try  and  Great  Britain. 

I  am  far  from  acknowledging  that,  had  the  orders  in  council 
been  repealed,  as  they  have~been,  before  the  war  was  declared, 
the  declaration  of  hostilities  would  of  course  have  been  pre 
vented.  In  a  body  so  numerous  as  this  is,  from  which  the  decla 
ration  emanated,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  with  any  degree  of 
certainty,  what  would  have  been  the  effect  of  such  a  repeal. 
Each  member  must  answer  for  himself.  As  to  myself,  I  have 
no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  I  have  always  considered  the  im 
pressment  of  American  seamen  as  much  the  most  serious  ag 
gression.  But,  sir,  how  have  those  orders  at  last  been  repealed? 
Great  Britain,  it  is  true,  has  intimated  a  willingness  to  suspend 
their  practical  operation,  but  she  still  arrogates  to  herself  the 
right  to  revive  them  upon  certain  contingencies,  of  which  she 
constitutes  herself  the  sole  judge.  She  waves  the  temporary 
use  of  the  rod,  but  she  suspends  it  in  terrorem  over  our  heads. 
Supposing  it  to  be  conceded  to  gentlemen  that  such  a  repeal 
of  the  orders  in  council  as  took  place  on  the  twenty- third  June 
last,  exceptionable  as  it  is,  being  known  before  the  war  was 
proclaimed,  would  have  prevented  it:  does  it  follow  that  it  ought 
to  induce  us  to  lay  down  our  arms,  without  the  redress  of  any 
other  injury  of  which  we  complain?  Does  it  follow,  in  all  cases, 
that  that  which  would,  in  the  first  instance,  have  prevented,  would 
also  terminate  the  war?  By  no  means.  It  requires  a  strong 
and  powerful  effort  in  a  nation,  prone  to  peace  as  this  is,  to  burst 
through  its  habits  and  encounter  the  difficulties  and  privations 
of  war.  Such  a  nation  ought  but  seldom  to  embark  in  a  belli 
gerent  contest;  but  when  it  does,  it  should  be  for  obvious  and 
essential  rights  alone,  and  should  firmly  resolve  to  extort,  at  all 
hazards,  their  recognition.  The  war  of  the  revolution  is  an 
example  of  a  war  begun  for  one  object  and  prosecuted  for 
another.  It  was  waged,  in  its  commencement,  against  the  right 
asserted  ,by  the  parent  country  to  tax  the  colonies.  Then  no 
one  thought  of  absolute  independence.  The  idea  of  indepen 
dence  was  repelled.  But  the  British  government  would  have 
relinquished  the  principle  of  taxation.  The  founders  of  our 
liberties  saw,  however,  that  there  was  no  security  short  of  inde 
pendence,  and  they  achieved  that  independence.  When  nations 
are  engaged  in  war,  those  rights  in  controversy,  which  are  not 
acknowledged  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  are  abandoned.  And  who 
is  .prepared  to  say.  that  American  seamen  shall  be  surrendered, 
as  victims  to  the  British  principle  of  impressment?  And,  sir, 
what  is  this  principle?  She  contends  that  she  has  a  right  to  the 
services  of  her  own  subjects ;  and  that,  in  the  exercise  of  this 
right,  she  may  lawfully  impress  them,  even  although  she  finds 
them  in  American  vessels,  upon  the  high  sea;s,  without  her  juris 
diction.  Now  I  deny  that  she  has  any  right,  beyond  her  juris 
diction,  to  come  on  board  our  vessels,  upon  the  high  seas,  for  any 
other  purpose  than  in  the  pursuit  of  enemies,  or  their  goods,  or 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  55 

goods  contraband  of  war.  But  she  further  contends,  that  her 
subjects  cannot  renounce  their  allegiance  to  her,  and  contract 
a  new  obligation  to  other  sovereigns.  I  do  not  mean  to  go  into 
the  general  question  of  the  right  of  expatriation.  If,  as  is  con 
tended,  all  nations  deny  it,  all  nations  at  the  same  time  admit 
and  practice  the  right  of  naturalization.  Great  Britain  herself 
does  this.  Great  Britain,  in  the  very  case  of  foreign  seamen, 
imposes,  perhaps,  fewer  restraints  upon  naturalization  than  any 
other  nation.  Then,  if  subjects  cannot  break  their  original  alle 
giance,  they  may,  according  to  universal  usage,  contract  a  new 
allegiance.  What  is  the  effect  of  this  double  obligation?  Un 
doubtedly,  that  the  sovereign  having  the  possession  of  the 
subject,  would  have  the  right  to  the  services  of  the  subject.  Jf 
he  return  within  the  jurisdiction  of  his  primitive  sovereign,  he 
may  resume  his  right  to  his  services,  of  which  the  subject,  by 
his  own  act,  could  not  divest  himself.  But  his  primitive  sove 
reign  can  have  no  right  to  go  in  quest  of  him,  out  of  his  own 
jurisdiction,  into  the  jurisdiction  of  another  sovereign,  or  upon 
the  high  seas,  where  there  exists  either  no  jurisdiction,  or  it  is 
possessed  by  the  nation  owning  the  ship  navigating  them.  But, 
sir,  this  discussion  is  altogether  useless.  It  is  not  to  the  British 
principle,  objectionable  as  it  is,  that  we  are  alone  to  look ;  it  is 
to  her  practice,  no  matter  what  guise  she  puts  on.  It  is  in  vain 
to  assert  the  inviolability  of  the  obligation  of  allegiance.  It  is 
in  vain  to  set  up  the  plea  of  necessity,  and  to  alledge  that  she 
cannot  exist  without  the  impressment  of  HER  seamen.  The 
naked  truth  is,  she  comes,  by  her  press  gangs,  on  board  of  our 
vessels,  seizes  OUR  native  as  well  as  naturalized  seamen,  and 
drags  them  into  her  service.  It  is  the  case,  then,  of  the  assertion 
of  an  erroneous  principle,  and  of  a  practice  not  conformable  to 
the  asserted  principle — a  principle  which,  if  it  were  theoretically 
right,  must  be  forever  practically  wrong — a  practice  which  can 
obtain  countenance  from  no  principle  whatever,  and  to  submit  to 
which,  on  our  part,  would  betray  the  most  abject  degradation. 
We  are  told,  by  gentlemen  in  the  opposition,  that  government 
has  not  done  all  that  was  incumbent  on  it  to  do.  to  avoid  just 
cause  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain — that,  in  par 
ticular,  the  certificates  of  protection,  authorized  by  the  act  of 
1796,  are  fraudulently  used.  Sir,  government  has  done  too 
much  in  granting  those  paper  protections.  I  can  never  think 
of  them  without  being  shocked.  They  resemble  the  passes 
which  the  master  grants  to  his  negro  slave — "let  the  bearer, 
Mungo,  pass  and  repass  without  molestation."  What  do  they 
imply?  That  Great  Britain  has  a  right  to  seize  all  who  are 
not  provided  with  them.  From  their  very  nature  they  must  be 
liable  to  abuse  on  both  sides.  If  Great  Britain  desires  a  mark 
by  which  she  can  know  her  own  subjects,  let  her  give  them  an 
ear  mark.  The  colors  that  float  from  the  mast  head  should  be 
the  credentials  of  our  seamen.  There  is  no  safety  to  us,  and 
the  gentlemen  have  shown  it,  but  in  the  rule  that  all  who  sail 


56  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

under  the  flag,  (not  being  enemies,)  are  protected  by  the  flag, 
It  is  impossible  that  this  country  should  ever  abandon  the  gal 
lant  tars  who  have  won  for  us  such  splendid  trophies.  Let  me 
suppose  that  the  Genius  of  Columbia  should  visit  one  of  them 
in  bis  oppressor's  prison,  and  attempt  to  reconcile  him  to  his 
forlorn  and  wretched  condition.  She  would  say  to  him,  in  the 
language  of  gentlemen  on  the  other  side,  "Great  Britain  intends 
you  no  harm;  she  did  not  mean  to  impress  you,  but  one  of  her 
own  subjects;  having  taken  you  by  mistake,  I  will  remonstrate, 
and  try  to  prevail  upon  her,  by  peaceable  means,  to  release  you, 
but  I  cannot,  my  son,  fight  for  you."  If  he  did  not  consider  this 
mere  mockery,  the  poor  tar  would  address  her  judgment  anu 
say,  "you  owe  me,  my  country,  protection;  I  owe  you,  in  return, 
obedience.  I  am  no  British  subject;  I  am  a  native  of  old  Mas 
sachusetts,  where  live  my  aged  father,  my  wife,  my  children. 
I  have  faithfully  discharged  my  duty.  Will  you  refuse  to  do 
yours?'51  Appealing  to  her  passions,  he  would  continue:  "I  lost 
this  eye  in  fighting  under  Truxton,  with  the  Insurgente;  I  got 
this  scar  before  Tripoli;  I  broke  this  leg  on  board  the  Constitu 
tion,  when  the  Guerriere  struck."  If  she  remained  still  unmoved^ 
he  would  break  out,  in  the  accents  of  mingled  distress  and  despair 

Hard,  hard  is  my  fate  !  once  I  freedom  enjoyed, 

Was  as  happy  as  happy  could  be! 

Oh  !  how  hard  is  my  fate,  how  galling  these  chains  ! 

I  will  not  imagine  the  dreadful  catastrophe  to  which  he  would 
be  driven,  by  an  abandonment  of  him  to  his  oppressor.  It  will 
not  be,  it  cannot  be,  that  his  country  will  refuse  him  protection. 
It  is  said  that  Great  Britain  has  been  always  willing  to  make 
a  satisfactory  arrangement  of  the  subject  of  impressment,  and 
that  Mr.  King  had  nearly  concluded  one  prior  to  his  departure 
from  that  country.  Let  us  hear  what  that  minister  says,  upon 
his  return  to  America.  In  his  letter  dated  at  New-i  ork,  in 
July,  1803,  after  giving  an  account  of  his  attempt  to  form  an 
•arrangement  for  the  protection  of  our  seamen,  and  his  interviews 
to  this  end  with  Lords  Hawkesbury  and  St.  Vincent,  and  stating 
that,  when  he  had  supposed  the  terms  of  a  convention  were 
agreed  upon,  a  new  pretension  was  set  up,  (the  mare  clausum,) 
he  concludes:  "I  regret  not  to  have  been  able  to  put  this  busi 
ness  on  a  satisfactory  footing,  knowing  as  I  do  its  very  great 
importance  to  both  parties;  but  I  flatter  myself  that  I  have  not 
misjudged  the  interests  of  our  own  country,  in  refusing  to  sanc 
tion  a  principle  that  might  be  productive  of  more  extensive  evils 
than  those  it  was  our  aim  to  prevent."  The  sequel  of  his  negotia 
tion,  on  this  affair,  is  more  fully  given  in  the  recent  conversation 

*  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  pathetic  effect  produced  by  this  part  of  the  speech. 
The  day  was  chilling  cold,  so  much  so,  that  Mr.  Clay,  has  been  heard  to  de 
clare,  that  it  was  the  only  time  he  ever  spoke,  when  he  was  unable  to  keep  himself 
warm  by  the  exercise  of  speaking,  yet  there  were  few  eyes  that  did  not  testify  to 
the  sensibility  excited.— EDITOR. 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  57 

between  Mr.  Russell  and  Lord  Castlereagh,  communicated  to 
Congress  during  its  present  session.  Lord  Castlereagh  says  to 
Mr.  Russell : 

"  Indeed  there  has  evidently  been  much  misapprehension  on 
this  subject,  an  erroneous  belief  entertained  that  an  arrangement 
in  regard  to  it,  has  been  nearer  an  accomplishment  than  the 
facts  will  warrant.  Even  our  friends  in  Congress,  I  mean  those 
who  are  opposed  to  going  to  war  with  us,  have  been  so  confident 
in  this  mistake,  that  they  have  ascribed  the  failure  of  such  an 
arrangement,  solely  to  the  misconduct  of  the  American  govern 
ment.  This  error  probably  originated  with  Mr.  King,  for,  being 
much  esteemed  here,  and  always  well  received  by  the  persons  in 
power,  he  seems  to  have  misconstrued  their  readiness  to  listen  to 
his  representations,  and  their  warm  professions  of  a  disposition 
to  remove  the  complaints  of  America  in  relation  to  impressment, 
into  a  supposed  conviction  on  their  part,  of  the  propriety  of 
adopting  the  plan  which  he  had  proposed.  But  Lord  St.  Vincent, 
whom  he  might  have  thought  he  had  brought  over  to  his  opin 
ions,  appears  never  for  a  moment  to  have  ceased  to  regard  all 
arrangement  on  the  subject,  to  be  attended  with  formidable,  if 
not  insurmountable  obstacles.  This  is  obvious  from  a  letter 
which  his  lordship  addressed  to  Sir  Wm.  Scott  at  the  time." 
Here  Lord  Castlereagh  read  a  letter,  contained  in  the  records  be 
fore  him,  in  which  Lord  St.  Vincent  states  to  Sir  Wm.  Scott  the 
zeal  with  which  Mr.  King  has  assailed  him  on  the  subject  of  im 
pressment,  confesses  his  own  perplexity,  and  total  incompetency  to 
discover  any  practical  project  for  the  safe  discontinuance  of  that 
practice,  and  asks  for  council  and  advice.  "  Thus  you  see,"  pro- 
ceded  Lord  Castlereagh,  "  that  the  confidence  of  Mr.  King  on 
this  subject  was  entirely  unfounded." 

Thus  it  is  apparent,  that,  at  no  time,  has  the  enemy  been 
willing  to  place  this  subject  on  a  satisfactory  footing.  I  will 
speak  hereafter  of  the  overtures  made  by  administration  since 
the  war. 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  New  York  (Mr.  Bleeker,)  in 
the  very  sensible  speech  with  which  he  favored  the  committee, 
made  one  observation  which  did  not  comport  with  his  usual 
liberal  and  enlarged  views.  It  was  that  those  who  are  most  inter 
ested  against  the  practice  of  impressment,  did  not  desire  a  continu 
ance  of  the  war  on  account  of  it,  whilst  those  (the  southern  and 
western  members,)  who  had  no  interest  in  it,  were  the  zealous 
advocates  of  American  seamen.  It  was  a  provincial  sentiment 
unworthy  of  that  gentleman.  It  was  one  which,  in  a  change  of 
condition,  he  would  not  express,  because  I  know  he  could  not  feet 
it.  Does  not  that  gentleman  feel  for  the  unhappy  victims  of  the 
tomahawk  in  the  western  wilds,  although  his  quarter  of  the 
Union  may  be  exempted  from  similar  barbarities  ?  I  am  sure  he 
does.  If  there  be  a  description  of  rights  which,  more  than  any 
other,  should  unite  all  parties  in  all  quarters  of  the  Union,  it  IB 
unquestionably  the  rights  of  the  person.  No  matter  what  hi« 


58  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

vocation ;  whether  he  seeks  subsistence  amidst  the  dangers 
of  the  deep,  or  draws  them  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  or  from 
the  humblest  occupations  of  mechanic  life :  whenever  the  sacred 
rights  of  an  American  freeman  are  assailed,  all  hearts  ought  to 
unite  and  every  arm  should  be  braced  to  vindicate  his  cause. 

The  gentleman  from  Delaware  sees  in  Canada  no  object  wor 
thy  of  conquest.  According  to  him,  it  is  a  cold,  sterile  and  in 
hospitable  region.  And  yet,  such  are  the  allurements  which  it 
offers,  that  the  same  gentleman  apprehends  that,  if  it  be  annexed 
to  the  United  States,  already  too  much  weakened  by  an  exten 
sion  of  territory,  the  people  of  New-England  will  rush  over  the 
line  and  depopulate  that  section  of  the  Union  !  That  gentleman 
considers  it  honest  to  hold  Canada  as  a  kind  of  hostage ;  to 
regard  it  as  a  sort  of  bond  for  the  good  behaviour  of  the  enemy. 
But  he  will  not  enforce  the  bond.  The  actual  conquest  of  that 
country  would,  according  to  him,  make  no  impresssion  upon  the 
enemy,  and  yet  the  very  apprehension  only  of  such  a  conquest 
would  at  all  times  have  a  powerful  operation  upon  him!  Other 
gentlemen  consider  the  invasion  of  that  country  as  wicked  and 
unjustifiable.  Its  inhabitants  are  represented  as  harmless  and 
unoffending;  as  connected  with  those  of  the  bordering  States  by 
a  thousand  tender  ties,  interchanging  acts  of  kindness,  and  all 
the  offices  of  good  neighborhood.  Canada,  said  Mr.  Clay,  inno 
cent!  Canada,  unoffending!  Is  it  not  in  Canada  that  the  toma 
hawk  of  the  savage  has  been  moulded  into  its  death-like  form? 
Has  it  not  been  from  Canadian  magazines,  Maiden  and  others, 
that  those  supplies  have  been  issued  which  nourish  and  continue 
the  Indian  hostilities  ?  supplies  which  have  enabled  the  savage 
hordes  to  butcher  the  garrison  of  Chicago,  and  to  commit  other 
horrible  excesses  and  murders?  Was  it  not  by  the  joint  co-ope 
ration  of  Canadians  and  Indians  that  a  remote  American  fort, 
Michilimackinac,  was  assailed  and  reduced,  while  in  ignorance  of 
a  state  of  war?  But,  sir,  how  soon  have  the  opposition  changed 
their  tone!  When  administration  was  striving,  by  the  ope 
ration  of  peaceful  measures,  to  bring  Great  Britain  back  to  a 
sense  of  justice,  they  were  for  old-fashioned  war.  And  now 
they  have  got  old-fashioned  war,  their  sensibilities  are  cruelly 
shocked,  and  all  their  sympathies  lavished  upon  the  harmless 
inhabitants  of  the  adjoining  provinces.  What  does  a  state  of 
war  present  ?  The  united  energies  of  one  people,  arrayed  against 
the  combined  energies  of  another — a  conflict  in  which  each  party 
aims  to  inflict  all  the  injury  it  can,  by  sea  and  land,  upon  thJe 
territories,  property  and  citizens  of  the  other,  subject  only  to  the 
rules  of  mitigated  war,  practised  by  civilized  nations.  The  geiv 
tleman  would  not  touch  the  continental  provinces  of  the  enemy, 
nor,  I  presume,  for  the  same  reason,  her  possessions  in  the  West 
Indies.  The  same  humane  spirit  would  spare  the  seamen  and 
soldiers  of  the  enemy.  The  sacred  person  of  his  majesty  must 
not  be  attacked,  for  the  learned  gentlemen,  on  the  other  side, 
.are  quite  familiar  with  the  maxim,  that  the  king  can  do  no 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  591 

wrong.  Indeed,  sir,  I  know  of  no  person  on  whom  we  may 
make  war,  upon  the  principles  of  the  honorable  gentlemen,  but 
Mr.  Stephen,  the  celebrated  author  of  the  orders  in  council,  or 
the  board  of  admiralty,  who  authorize  and  regulate  the  practice 
of  impressment! 

The  disasters  of  the  war  admonish  us,  we  are  told,  of  the  ne 
cessity  of  terminating  the  contest.  If  our  achievements  by  land 
have  been  less  splendid  than  those  of  our  intrepid  seamen  by 
water,  it  is  not  because  the  American  soldier  is  less  brave.  On 
the  one  element  organization,  discipline,  and  a  thorough  know 
ledge  of  their  duties  exist,  on  the  part  of  the  officers  and  their 
men.  On  the  other  almost  every  thing  is  yet  to  be  acquired. 
We  have  however  the  consolation  that  our  country  abounds  with 
the  richest  materials,  and  that  in  no  instance  when  engaged  in 
action  have  our  arms  been  tarnished.  At  Brovvnstown  and  at 
Glueenstown  the  valor  of  veterans  was  displayed,  and  acts  of  the 
noblest  heroism  were  performed.  It  is  true,  that  the  disgrace  of 
Detroit  remains  to  be  wiped  off.  That  is  a  subject  on  which  I 
cannot  trust  my  feelings,  it  is  not  fitting  I  should  speak.  But  this 
much  I  will  say,  it  was  an  event  which  no  human  foresight  could 
have  anticipated,  and  for  which  the  administration  cannot  be 
justly  censured.  It  was  the  parent  of  all  the  misfortunes  we 
have  experienced  on  land.  But  for  it  the  Indian  war  would  have 
been  in  a  great  measure  prevented  or  terminated ;  the  ascend 
ancy  on  lake  Erie  acquired,  and  the  war  pushed  on  perhaps  to 
Montreal.  With  the  exception  of  that  event,  the  war,  even  upon 
the  land,  has  been  attended  by  a  series  of  the  most  brilliant  ex 
ploits,  which,  whatever  interest  they  may  inspire  on  this  side  of 
the  mountains,  have  given  the  greatest  pleasure  on  the  other. 
The  expedition  under  the  command  of  Governor  Edwards  and 
Colonel  Russel,  to  lake  Peoria  on  the  Illinois,  was  completely  suc 
cessful.  So  was  that  of  Captain  Craig,  who  it  is  said  ascended 
that  river  still  higher.  General  Hopkins  destroyed  the  prophet's 
town.  We  have  just  received  intelligence  of  the  gallant  enter- 
prize  of  Colonel  Campbell.  In  short,  sir,  the  Indian  towns  have 
been  swept  from  the  mouth  to  the  source  of  the  Wabash,  and  a 
hostile  country  has  been  penetrated  far  beyond  the  most  daring 
incursions  of  any  campaign  during  the  former  Indian  war.  Nev 
er  was  more  cool  deliberate  bravery  displayed  than  that  by  New 
man's  party  from  Georgia.  And  the  capture  of  the  Detroit,  and 
the  destruction  of  the  Caledonia,  (whether  placed  to  a  maritime 
or  land  account,)  for  judgment,  skill,  and  courage  on  the  part  of 
Lieutenant  Elliott,  have  never  been  surpassed. 

It  is  alledged  that  the  elections  in  England  are  in  favor  of  the 
ministry,  and  that  those  in  this  country  are  against  the  war.  If 
in  such  a  cause  (saying  nothing  of  the  impurity  of  their  elections) 
the  people  of  that  country  have  rallied  round  their  government, 
it  affords  a  salutary  lesson  to  the  people  here,  who  at  all  hazards 
ought  to  support  theirs,  struggling  as  it  is  to  maintain  our  just 
rights.  But  the  people  here  have  not  been  false  to  themselves; 


60  ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL. 

a  great  majority  approve  the  war,  as  is  evinced  by  the  recent  re 
election  of  the  chief  magistrate.  Suppose  it  were  even  true  that 
an  entire  section  of  the  Union  were  opposed  to  the  war,  that  sec 
tion  being  a  minority,  is  the  will  of  the  majority  to  be  relinquish 
ed  ?  In  that  section  the  real  strength  of  the  opposition  had  been 
greatly  exaggerated.  Vermont  has,  by  two  successive  expres 
sions  of  her  opinion,  approved  the  declaration  of  war.  In  New- 
Hampshire,  parties  are  so  nearly  equipoized,  that  out  of  thirty 
or  thirty-five  thousand  votes,  those  who  approved  and  are  for 
supporting  it,  lost  the  election  by  only  one  thousand  or  one  thou 
sand  five  hundred.  In  Massachusetts  alone  have  they  obtained 
any  considerable  accession.  If  we  come  to  New- York,  we  shall 
find  that  other  and  local  causes  have  influenced  her  elections. 

What  cause,  Mr.  Chairman,  which  existed  for  declaring  the 
war  has  been  removed  ?  We  sought  indemnity  for  the  past  and 
security  for  the  future.  The  orders  in  council  are  suspended, 
not  revoked ;  no  compensation  for  spoliations.  Indian  hostilities, 
which  were  before  secretly  instigated,  are  now  openly  encour 
aged  ;  and  the  practice  of  impressment  unremittingly  persevered 
in  and  insisted  upon.  Yet  administration  has  given  the  strong 
est  demonstrations  of  its  love  of  peace.  On  the  twenty-ninth 
June,  less  than  ten  days  after  the  declaration  of  war,  the  secre 
tary  of  state  writes  to  Mr.  Russell,  authorizing  him  to  agree  to 
an  armistice,  upon  two  conditions  only,  and  what  are  they?  That 
the  orders  in  council  should  be  repealed,  and  the  practice  of  im 
pressing  American  seamen  cease,  those  already  impressed  being 
released.  The  proposition  was  for  nothing  more  than  a  real 
truce;  that  the  war  should  in  fact  cease  on  both,  sides.  Again, 
on  the  twenty-seventh  of  July,  one  month  later,  anticipating  a 
possible  objection  to  these  terms,  reasonable  as  they  are,  Mr. 
Monroe  empowers  Mr.  Russell  to  stipulate  in  general  terms  for 
ail  armistice,  having  only  an  informal  understanding  on  these 
points.  In  return,  the  enemy  is  offered  a  prohibition  of  the  em 
ployment  of  his  seamen  in  our  service,  thus  removing  entirely 
all  pretext  for  the  practice  of  impressment.  The  very  proposi 
tion  which  the  gentleman  from  Connecticut  (Mr.  Pitkin)  contends 
ought  to  be  made,  has  been  made.  How  are  these  pacific  ad 
vances  met  by  the  other  party  ?  Rejected  as  absolutely  inad 
missible  ;  cavils  are  indulged  about  the  inadequacy  of  Mr.  Rus 
sell's  powers,  and  the  want  of  an  act  of  Congress  is  intimated. 
And  yet  the  constant  usage  of  nations  I  believe  is,  where  the 
legislation  of  one  party  is  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  a  given 
stipulation,  to  leave  it  to  the  contracting  party  to  provide  the  re 
quisite  laws.  If  he  fail  to  do  so,  it  is  a  breach  of  good  faith,  and 
becomes  the  subject  of  subsequent  remonstrance  by  the  injured 
party.  When  Mr.  Russell  renews  the  overture,  in  what  was  in 
tended  as  a  more  agreeable  form  to  the  British  government,  Lord 
Castlereagh  is  not  content  with  a  simple  rejection,  but  clothes  it 
in  the  language  of  insult.  Afterwards,  in  conversation  with  Mr. 
Ruegell,  the  moderation  of  our  government  is  misinterpreted  and 


ON  THE  NEW  ARMY  BILL.  61 

made  the  occasion  of  a  sneer,  that  we  are  tired  of  the  war.    The 
proposition  of  Admiral  Warren  is  submitted  in  a  spirit  i  ~>t  more 
pacific.     He  is  instructed,  he  tells  us,  to  propose  that  tho,  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  shall  instantly  recall  their  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisal  against  British  ships,  together  -frith "all  or 
ders  and  instruction;.;  for  any  acts  of  hostility  whatever  against 
the  territories  of  his  majesty  or  the  persons  or  property  of  his 
subjects.     That  small  affair  being  settled,  he  is  further  authorized 
to  arrange  as  to  the  revocation  of  the  laws  which  interdict  the 
commerce  and  ships  of  war  of  his  majesty  from  the  harbors  and 
waters  of  the  United  States.     This  messenger  of  peace  comes 
with  one  qualified  concession  in  his  pocket,  not  made  to  the  jus 
tice  of  our  demands,  and  is  fully  empowered  to  receivo  our  hom 
age,  a  contrite  retraction  of  all  our  measures  adopted  against  his 
master  1    And  in  default,  he  does  not  fail  to  assure  us,  the  orders 
in  council  are  to  be  forthwith  revived.     Administration,  still  anx 
ious  to  terminate  the  war,  suppresses  the  indignation  which  such 
a  proposal  ought  to  have  created,  and  in  its  answer  concludes  by 
informing  Admiral  Warren,  "that  if  there  be  no  objection  to  an 
accommodation  of  the  difference  relating  to  impressment,  in  the 
mode  proposed,  other-  than  the  suspension  of  the  British  claim  to 
impressment  during  the  armistice,  there  can  be  none  to  proceed 
ing  without,  the  armistice,  to  an  immediate  discussion  and  ar 
rangement  of  an  article  on  that  subject."     Thus  it  has  left  the 
door  of  negotiation  unclosed,  and  it  remains  to  be  seen  if  the  en 
emy  will  accept  the  invitation  tendered  to  him.     The  honorable 
gentleman  from  North  Carolina  (Mr.  Pearson.)  supposes,  that  if 
Congress  would  pass  a  law,  prohibiting  the  employment  of  Brit 
ish  seamen  in  our  service,  upon  condition  of  a  like  prohibition  on 
their  part,  arid  repeal  the  act  of  non-importation,  peace  would  im 
mediately  follow.     Sir,  I  have  no  doubt  if  such  a  law  were  to 
pass,  with  all  the  requisite  solemnities,  and  the  repeal  to  take 
place,  Lord  Castlereagh  would  laugh  at  our  simplicity.     No,  sir 
administration  has  erred  in  the  steps  which  it  has  taken  to  re 
store  peace,  but  its  error  has  been  not  in  doing  too  little,  but  in 
betraying  too  great  a  solicitude  for  that  event.     An  honorable 
peace  is  attainable  only  by  an  efficient  war.    My  plan  would  be  to 
call  out  the  ample  resources  of  the  country,  give  them  a  judicious 
direction,  prosecute  the  war  with  the  utmost  vigor,  strike  wher 
ever  we  can  reach  the  enemy,  at  sea  or  on  land,  and  negotiate 
the  terms  of  a  peace  at  Quebec  or  at  Halifax.     We  are  told  that 
England  is  a  proud  and  lofty  nation,  which  disdaining  to  wait  for 
danger,  meets  it  half  way.     Haughty  as  she  is,  we  once  triumph 
ed  over  her,  and,  if  we  do  not  listen  to  the  counsels  of  timidity 
and  despair,  we  shall  again  prevail.    In  such  a  cause,  with  the 
aid  ol  1  rovidence,  we  must  come  out  crowned  with  success ;  but 
it  we  tail,  let  us  fail  like  men,  lash  ourselves  to  our  o-allant  tare, 
and  expire  together  in  one  common  struggle,  fio-htino-  for  FREE 

TRADE  AND  SEAMAN'S  RIGHTS. 


62      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA, 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION   OP  SOUTH 
AMERICA. 

Speech  of  Mr.  Clay,  on  his  proposition  to  make  an  appropria 
tion  for  the  outfit,  and  one  year's  salary,  for  a  Minister  to 
Buenos  Ayres;  delivered  March  24,  1818. 

The  House  being  in  committee  of  the  whole,  on  the  bill  ma 
king  appropriation  for  the  support  of  government  for  the  year 
1818,  • 

Mr.  CLAY  rose,  under  feelings  of  deeper  regret  than  he  had 
ever  experienced  on  any  former  occasion,  inspired,  principally, 
by  the  painful  consideration,  that  he  found  himself,  on  the  propo 
sition  which  he  meant  to  submit,  differing  from  many  highly 
esteemed  friends,  in  and  out  of  this  House,  for  whose  judgment 
he  entertained  the  greatest  respect.  A  knowledge  of  this  cir 
cumstance  had  induced  him  to  pause ;  to  subject  his  own  con 
victions  to  the  severest  scrutiny;  and  to  revolve  the  question  over 
and  over  again.  But  all  his  reflections  had  conducted  him  to 
the  same  clear  result;  and,  much  as  he  valued  those  friends — 
great  as  his  deference  was  for  their  opinions — he  could  not  hesi 
tate,  when  reduced  to  the  distressing  alternative  of  conforming 
his  judgment  to  theirs,  or  pursuing  the  deliberate  and  matured 
dictates  of  his  own  mind.  He  enjoyed  some  consolation  for 
the  want  of  their  co-operation,  from  the  persuasion  that,  if  he 
erred  on  this  occasion,  he  erred  on  the  side  of  the  liberty  and 
happiness  of  a  large  portion  of  the  human  family.  Another, 
and,  if  possible,  indeed,  a  greater  source  of  the  regret  to  which 
he  referred,  was  the  utter  incompetency,  which  he  unfeignedly 
felt,  to  do  any  thing  like  adequate  justice  to  the  great  cause 
of  American  independence  and  freedom,  whose  interests  he 
wished  to  promote  by  his  humble  exertions  in  this  instance. 
Exhausted  and  worn  down  as  he  was,  by  the  fatigue,  confine 
ment  and  incessant  application  incident  to  the  arduous  duties 
of  the  honorable  station  he  held,  during  a  four  months'  session, 
he  should  need  all  that  kind  indulgence  which  had  been  so  often 
extended  to  him  by  the  House. 

He  begged,  in  the  first  place,  to  correct  misconceptions,  if  any 
existed,  in  regard  to  his  opinions.  He  was  averse  from  war 
with  Spain,  or  with  any  power.  He  would  give  no  just  cause 
of  war  to  any  power — not  to  Spain  herself.  He  had  seen  enough 
of  war,  and  of  its  calamities,  even  when  successful.  No  country 
upon  earth  had  more  interest  than  this  in  cultivating  peace,  and 
avoiding  war,  as  long  as  it  was  possible  honorably  to  avoid  it 
Gaining  additional  strength  every  day;  our  numbers  doubling 
in  periods  of  twenty-five  years;  with  an  income  outstripping  all 
our  estimates,  and  so  great,  as,  after  a  war  in  some  respects 
disastrous,  to  furnish  results  which  carry  astonishment,  if  not 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA.      63 

dismay,  into  the  bosom  of  states  jealous  of  our  rising  impor 
tance — we  had  every  motive  for  the  love  of  peace.  He  could 
not,  however,  approve,  in  all  respects,  of  the  manner  in  which 
our  negotiations  with  Spain  had  been  conducted.  If  ever  a  fa 
vorable  time  existed  for  the  demand,  on  the  part  of  an  injured 
nation,  of  indemnity  for  past  wrongs  from  the  aggressor,  such 
was  the  present  time.  Impoverished  and  exhausted  at  home, 
by  the  wars  which  have  desolated  the  peninsula;  with  a  foreign 
war,  calling  for  infinitely  more  resources,  in  men  and  money, 
than  she  can  possibly  command,  this  is  the  auspicious  period  for 
insisting  upon  justice  at  her  hands,  in  a  firm  and  decided  tone. 
Time  is  precisely  what  Spain  now  most  wants.  Yet  what  are 
we  told  by  the  President,  in  his  message  at  the  commencement 
of  Congress?  That  Spain  had  procrastinated,  and  we  acqui 
esced  in  her  procrastination.  And  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  a 
late  communication  with  Mr.  Onis,  after  ably  vindicating  all  our 
rights,  tells  the  Spanish  minister,  with  a  good  deal  of  sang  froid, 
that  we  had  patiently  waited  thirteen  years  for  a  redress  of  our 
injuries,  and  that  it  required  no  great  effort  to  wait  longer!  He 
would  have  abstained  from  thus  exposing  our  intentions.  Avoid 
ing  the  use  of  the  language  of  menace,  he  would  have  required, 
in  temperate  and  decided  terms,  indemnity  for  all  our  wrongs ; 
for  the  spoliations  of  our  commerce;  for  the  interruption  of  the 
right  of  depot  at  New-Orleans,  guarantied  by  treaty;  for  the 
insults  repeatedly  offered  to  our  flag ;  for  the  Indian  hostilities, 
which  she"  was  bound  to  prevent;  for  belligerent  use  made  of  her 
ports  and  territories,  by  our  enemy  during  the  late  war — and  the 
instantaneous  liberation  of  the  free  citizens  of  the  United  States 
now  imprisoned  in  her  jails.  Contemporaneous  with  that  de 
mand,  without  waiting  for  her  final  answer,  and  with  a  view  to 
the  favorable  operation  on  her  councils  in  regard  to  our  own  pe 
culiar  interests,  as  well  as  in  justice  to  the  cause  itself,  he  would 
recognize  any  established  government  in  Spanish  America.  He 
would  have  left  Spain  to  draw  her  own  inferences  from  these 
proceedings,  as  to  the  ultimate  step  which  this  country  might 
adopt,  if  she  longer  withheld  justice  from  us.  And  if  she  per 
severed  in  her  iniquity,  after  we  had  conducted  the  negotiation 
in  the  manner  he  had  endeavored  to  describe,  he  would  then 
take  up  and  decide  the  solemn  question  of  peace  or  war,  with 
the  advantage  of  all  the  light  shed  upon  it  by  subsequent  events, 
and  the  probable  conduct  of  Europe. 

Spain  had  undoubtedly  given  us  abundant  and  just  cause  of 
war.  But,  it  was  not  every  cause  of  war  that  should  lead  to 
war.  War  was  one  of  those  dreadful  scourges  that  so  shakes 
the  foundations  of  society;  overturns  or  changes  the  character 
of  governments;  interrupts  or  destroys  the  pursuits  of  private 
happiness;  brings,  in  short,  misery  and  wretchedness  in  so 
many  forms;  and  at  last  is,  in  its  issue,  so  doubtful  and  hazard 
ous,  that  nothing  but  dire  necessity  can  justify  an  appeal  to 
arms.  If  we  were  to  have  war  with  Spain,  he  had,  however,  no 


64      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA, 

hesitation  in  saying,  that  no  mode  of  bringing  it  about  could  be 
less  fortunate  than  that  of  seizing,  at  this  time,  upon  her  adjoin 
ing  province.  There  was  a  time,  under  certain  circumstances^, 
when  we  might  have  occupied  East  Florida  with  safety;  had 
we  then  taken  it  our  posture  in  the  negotiation  with  Spain 
would  have  been  totally  different  from  what  it  is.  But  we  had 
permitted  that  time,  not  with  his  consent,  to 'pass  by  unimproved. 
If  we  were  now  to  seize  upon  Florida,  after  a  great  change  in 
those  circumstances,  and  after  declaring  our  intention  to  acqui 
esce  in  the  procrastination  desired  by  Spain,  in  what  light  should 
we  be  viewed  by  foreign  powers,  particularly  Great  Britain? 
We  have  already  been  accused  of  inordinate  ambition,, and  of 
seeking  to  aggrandize  ourselves  by  an  extension,  on  all  sides, 
of  our  limits.  Should  we  not,  by  such  an  act  of  violence^ 
give  color  to  the  accusation  ?  No,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  we  are  to 
be  involved  in  a  war  with  Spain,  let  us  have  the  credit  of  disin 
terestedness  j  let  us  put'  her  yet  more  in  the  wrong.  Let  us 
command  the  respect  which  is  never  withheld  from  those  who 
act  a  noble  and  generous  part  He  hoped  to  communicate  to  the 
committee  the  conviction  which  he  so  strongly  felt,  that,  adopt 
ing  the  amendment  which  he  intended  to  propose,  would  not 
hazard,  in  the  slightest  degree,  the  peace  of  the  country.  Buty 
if  that  peace  were  to  be  endangered,  he  would  infinitely  rather 
it  should  be  for  our  exerting  the  right  appertaining  to'  every  state, 
of  acknowledging  Hie  independence  of  another  state,  than  for 
the  seizure  of  a  province  which,  sooner  or  later,  we  must  cer 
tainly,  acquire. 

Mr.  Clay  proceeded.  In  contemplating  the  great  struggle  in 
which  Spanish  America  is  now  engaged,  our  attention  is  first 
fixed  by  the  immensity  and  character  of  the  country  which  Spain 
seeks  again  to  subjugate.  Stretching  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  from 
about  the  40th  degree  of  north  latitude  to  about  the  55th  de 
gree  of  south  latitude,  and  extending  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Rio  del  Norte.  (exclusive  of  East  Florida,)  around  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  along  the.  South  Atlantic  to  near  Cape  Horn;  it  is 
about  5000  miles  in  length,  and  in  some  places  near  3000  in 
breadth.  Within  this  vast  region,  we  behold  the  most  sublime 
and  interesting  objects  of  creation;  the  loftiest  mountains,  the 
most  majestic  rivers  in  the  world;  the  richest  mines  of  the  pre 
cious  metals,  and  the  choicest  productions  of  the  earth.  We 
behold  there  a  spectacle  still  more  interesting  and  sublime— the 
glorious  spectacle  of  eighteen  millions  of  people,  struggling  to 
burst  their  chains  and  to  be.  free.  When  we  take  a  little  nearer 
and  more  detailed  view,  we  perceive  that  nature  has,  as  it  were, 
ordained  that  this  people  and  this  country  shall  ultimately  con 
stitute  several  different  nations.  Leaving  the  United  States  on 
the  north,  we  come  to  New  Spain,  or  the  vice-royalty  of  Mexico 
on  the  south ;  pushing  by  Guatamela,  we  reach  the  vice-royalty 
of  New-Grenada,  the  late  captain-generalship  of  Venezuela,  and 
Guiana,  lying  on  the  east  side  of  the  Andes.  Stepping  over 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA.      6j 

the  Brazils,  we  arrive  at  the  united  provinces  of  La  Plata,  and, 
crossing  the  Andes,  we  find  Chili  on  their  west  side,  and,  further 
north,  the  vice-royalty  of  Lima,  or  Peru.  Each  of  these  several 
parts  is  sufficient  in  itself,  in  point  of  limits,  to  constitute  a  pow 
erful  state,  and,  in  point  of  population,  that  which  has  the  small 
est  contains  enough  to  make  it  respectable.  Throughout  all  the 
extent  of  that  great  portion  of  the  world,  which  he  had  attempted 
thus  hastily  to  describe,  the  spirit  of  revolt  against  the  dominion 
of  Spain  had  manifested  itself.  The  revolution  had  been  at 
tended  with  various  degrees  of  success  in  the  several  parts  of 
Spanish  America.  In  some,  it  had  been  already  crowned,  as 
he  would  endeavor  to  show,  with  complete  success,  and  in  all 
he  was  persuaded  that  independence  had  struck  such  deep  root 
as  that  the  power  of  Spain  could  never  eradicate  it.  What 
were  the  causes  of  this  great  movement? 

Three  hundred  years  ago,  upon  the  ruins  of  the  thrones  of 
Montezuma  and  the  Incas  of  Peru,  Spain  erected  the  most  stu 
pendous  system  of  colonial  despotism  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen — the  most  vigorous,  the  most  exclusive.  The  great  prin 
ciple  and  object  of  this  system,  has  been  to  render  one  of  the 
largest  portions  of  the  world  exclusively  subservient,  in  all  its 
faculties,  to  the  interests  of  an  inconsiderable  spot  in  Europe. 
To  effectuate  this  aim  of  her  policy,  she  locked  up  Spanish 
America  from  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  prohibited,  under  the 
severest  penalties,  any  foreigner  from  entering  any  part  of  it. 
To  keep  the  natives  themselves  ignorant  of  each  other,  and  of 
the  strength  and  resources  of  the  several  parts  of  her  American 
possessions,  she  next  prohibited  the  inhabitants  of  one  vice-roy 
alty  or  government  from  visiting  those  of  another ;  so  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Mexico,  for  example,  were  not  allowed  to  enter 
the  vice-royalty  of  New  Granada.  The  agriculture  of  those 
vast  regions  was  so  regulated  and  restrained  as  to  prevent  all 
collision  with  the  interests  of  the  agriculture  of  the  peninsula. 
Where  nature,  by  the  character  and  composition  of  the  soil,  had 
commanded,  the  abominable  system  of  Spain  has  forbidden,  the 
growth  of  certain  articles.  Thus  the  olive  and  the  vine,  to  which 
Spanish  America  is  so  well  adapted,  are  prohibited,  wherever 
their  culture  could  interfere  with  the  olive  and  the  vine  of  the 
peninsula.  The  commerce  of  the  country,  in  the  direction  and 
objects  of  the  exports  and  imports,  is  also  subjected  to  the 
narrow  and  selfish  views  of  Spain — and  fettered  by  the 
odious  spirit  of  monopoly  existing  in  Cadiz.  She  has  sought, 
by  scattering  discord  among  the  several  casts  of  her  American 
population,  and  by  a  debasing  course  of  education,  to  perpetuate 
her  oppression.  Whatever  concerns  public  law,  or  the  science 
of  government,  all  writers  upon  political  economy,  or  that  tend  to 
give  vigor  and  freedom  and  expansion  to  the  intellect,  are  pro 
hibited.  Gentlemen  would  be  astonished  by  the  long  list  of  dis 
tinguished  authors,  whom  she  proscribes,  to  be  found  in  Depon's 
6* 


66      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA. 

and  other  works.  A  main  feature  in  her  policy,  is  that  which 
constantly  elevates  the  European  and  depresses  the  American 
character.  Out  of  upwards  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  viceroys 
and  captains  general,  whom  she  has  appointed  since  the  conquest 
of  America,  about  eighteen  only  have  been  from  the  body  of  the 
American  population.  On  all  occasions,  she  seeks  to  raise  and 
pro-note  her  European  subjects,  and  to  degrade  and  humiliate 
the  Creoles.  Wherever  in  America  her  sway  extends,  every 
thing;  seems  to  pine  and  wither  beneath  its  baneful  influence. 
The" richest  regions  of  the  earth;  man,  his  happiness  and  his 
education,  all  the  fine  faculties  of  his  soul,  are  regulated  and 
modified,  and  moulded  to  suit  the  execrable  purposes  of  an  inex 
orable  despotism . 

Such  is  a  brief  and  imperfect  picture  of  the  state  of  things  in 
Spanish  America  in  1808,  when  the  famous  transactions  of  Bay- 
onne  occurred.  The  king  of  Spain  and  the  Indies,  (for  Spanish 
America  had  always  constituted  an  integral  part  of  the  Spanish 
empire)  abdicated  his  throne  and  became  a  voluntary  captive. 
Even  at  this  day,  one  does  not  know  whether  he  should  most 
condemn  the  baseness  and  perfidy  of  the  one  party,  or  despise 
the  meanness  and  imbecility  of  the  other.  If  the  obligation  of 
obedience  and  allegiance  existed  on  the  part  of  the  colonies  to 
the  king  of  Spain,  it  was  founded  on  the  duty  of  protection  which 
he  owed  them.  By  disqualifying  himself  from  the  performance 
of  this  duty,  they  'became  released  from  that  obligation.  The 
monarchy  was  dissolved;  and  each  integral  part -had  a  right  to 
seek  its  own  happiness,  by  the  institution  of  any  new  government 
adapted  to  its  wants.  Joseph  Bonaparte,  the  successor  de  facto 
of  Ferdinand,  recognized  this  right  on  the  part  of  the  colonies, 
and  recommended  them  to  establish  their  independence.  Thus, 
upon  the  ground  of  strict  right;  upon  the  footing  of  a  mere  legal 
question,  governed  by  forensic  rules,  the  colonies,  being  absolved 
by  the  acfs  of  the  parent  country  from  the  duty  of  subjection  to 
it,  had  an  indisputable  right  to  set  up  for  themselves.  But  Mr. 
Clay  took  a  broader  and  a  bolder  position.  He  maintained,  that 
an  oppressed  people  were  authorized,  whenever  they  could,  to 
rise  and  break  their  fetters.  This  was  the  great  principle  of  the 
English  revolution.  It  was  the  great  principle  of  our  own.  Vat- 
tel,  if  authority  were  wanting,  expressly  supports  this  right. 
We  must  pass  sentence  of  condemnation  upon  the  founders  of 
our  liberty— say  that  they  were  rebels — traitors,  and  that  we  are 
at  this  moment  legislating  without  competent  powers,  before  we 
could  condemn  the  cause  of  Spanish  America.  Our  revolution 
was  mainly  directed  against  the  mere  theory  of  tyranny.  We 
:iad  suffered  comparatively  but  little  ;  we  had,  in  some  respects, 
;»een  kindly  treated ;  but  our  intrepid  and  intelligent  fathers  saw, 
'i  the  usurpation  of  the  power  to  levy  an  inconsiderable  tax,  the 
ig  train  of  oppressive  acts  that  were  to  follow.  They  rose  j 
'T  breasted  the  storm ;  they  conquered  our  freedom.  Spanish 
ricafor  centuries  lias  been  doomed  to  the  Dractical  effects  of 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF    S.  AMERICA.    67 

an  odious  tyranny.     If  we  were  justified,  she  is  more  than  justi 
fied. 

Mr.  Clay  said  he  was  no  propagandist.  He  would  not  seek 
to  force  upon  other  nations  our  principles  and  our  liberty,  if  they 
did  not  want  them.  He  would  not  disturb  the  repose  even  of  a 
detestable  despotism.  But,  if  an  abused  and  oppressed  peo 
ple  willed  their  freedom ;  if  they  sought  to  establish  it;  if,  in  truth, 
they  had  established  it,  we  had  a  right,  as  a  sovereign  power,  to 
notice  the  fact,  and  to  act  as  circumstances  and  our  interest  re 
quired.  He  would  say,  in  the  language  of  the  venerated  father 
of  his  country :  "Born  in  a  land  ofliberty,  my  anxious  recollec 
tions,  my  sympathetic  feelings,  and  my  best  wishes,  are  irresist 
ibly  excited,  whensoever,  in  any  country,  I  see  an  oppressed  na 
tion  unfurl  the  banners  of  freedom."  For  his  own  part,  Mr.  Clay 
said,  that  whenever  he  thought  of  Spanish  America,  the  imase 
irresistibly  forced  itself  upon  his  mind  of  an  elder  brother,  whose 
education  had  been  neglected,  whose  person  had  been  abused 
and  maltreated,  and  who  had  been  disinherited  by  the  unkind- 
ness  of  an  unnatural  parent.  And,  when  he  contemplated  the 
florious  struggle  which  that  country  was  now  making,  he  thought 
e  beheld  that  brother  rising,  by  the  power  and  energy  ofliis 
fine  native  genius,  to  the  manly  rank  which  nature,  and  nature's 
God,  intended  for  him. 

^If  Spanish  America  were  entitled  to  success  from  the  justness 
of  her  cause,  we  had  no  less  reason  to  wish  that  success, from  the 
horrible  character  which  the  royal  arms  have  given  to  the  war. 
More  atrocities  than  those  which  had  been  perpetrated  during 
its  existence,  were  not  to  be  found  even  in  the  annals  of  Spain 
herself.  And  history,  reserving  some  of  her  blackest  pages  for 
the  name  of  Morillo,  is  prepared  to  place  him  along  side°of  his 
great  prototype,  the  infamous  desolater  of  the  Netherlands.  He 
who  has  looked  into  the  history  of  the  conduct  of  this  war,  is  con 
stantly  shocked  at  the  revolting  scenes  which  it  portrays ;  at  the 
refusal,  on  the  part  <rf  the  commanders  of  the  royal  forces  to 
treat,  on  any  terms,  with  the  other  side;  at  the  denial  of  quar 
ters;  at  the  butchery,  in  cold  blood,  of  prisoners;  at  the  violation 
of  flags,  in  some  cases,  after  being  received  with  religious  cere 
monies;  at  the  instigation  of  slaves  to  rise  against  their  owners: 
and  at  acts  of  wanton  and  useless  barbarity.^  Neither  the  weak 
ness  of  the  other  sex,  nor  the  imbecility  of  old  aa;e,  nor  the  inno 
cence  of  infants,  nor  the  reverence  due  to  the  sacerdotal  charac 
ter,  can  stay  the  arm  of  royal  vengeance.  On  this  subject  he 
begged  leave  to  trouble  the  committee  with  reading  a  few  pas 
sages  from  a  most  authentic  document,  the  manifesto  of  the  Con 
gress  of  the  united  provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  published  in 
October  last.  This  was  a  paper  of  the  highest  authority;  it  was 
an  appeal  to  the  whole  world ;  it  asserted  facts  of  notoriety  in 
the  face  of  the  whole  world.  It  was  not  to  be  credited  that  the 
Congress  would  come  forward  with  a  statement  which  was  not 
true,  when  the  means,  if  it  were  false,  of  exposing  their  fabrica- 


68      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA. 

tions,  must  be  so  abundant,  and  so  easy  to  command.  It  was  a 
document,  in  short,  that  stood  upon  the  same  footing  of  authority 
with  our  own  papers,  promulgated  during  the  revolution  by  our 
Congress.  He  would  add,  that  many  of  the  facts  which  it  af 
firmed,  were  corroborated  by  most  respectable  historical  testimo 
ny,  which  was  in  his  own  possession.* 

*  The  following  are  the  passages  read  by  Mr.  C. 

"  Memory  shudder?  at.  the  recital  of  the  horrors  that  were  then  committed  by  Goy- 
eneche,  in  Cochabamba.  Would  to  heaven  it  were  possible  to  blot  from  remembrance 
the  name  of  that  ungrateful  and  blood-thirsty  American  ;  who,  on  the  day  of  his  en 
try,  ordeied  the  virtuous  Governor  and  intendant,  Antesana,  to  be  shot:  who,  behold- 
ifig  from  tho  balcony  of  his  house  that  infamous  murder,  cried  out  with  a  ferocious 
vo~ice  to  the  soldiers,  that  th^y  must  not  fire  at  the  head,  because  he  wanted  it  to  be 
affixed  to  a  pule ;  and  who,  after  the  head  was  taken  off.  ordered  the  cold  corpse  to  be 
drasged  through  the  streets ;  and,  by  a  barbarous  decree,  placed  the  lives  and  fortunes 
of  the  citizens  at  the  mercy  of  his  unbridled  soldiery,  leaving  them  to  exercise  their 
licentious  and  brutal  sway  during  several  days  !  But  those  blind  and  cruelly  capri 
cious  men,  (the  Spaniards",)  rejected  the  mediation  of  England,  and  despatched  rigor. 
oiis  orders  to  all  the  generals,  to  aggravate  the  war,  and  to  punish  us  with  more  seven 
ty.  The  scaffolds  w'ere  every  where  multiplied,  and  invention  was  racked  to  devise 
means  for  spreading  murder,  distress  and  consternation. 

"  Thenceforth  they  made  all  possible  efforts  to  spread  division  amongst  us,  to  incits 
us  to  mutual  extermination  ;  they  have  slandered  us  with  the  most  atrocious  calum 
nies,  accusing  us  of  plotting  the  destruction  of  our  holy  religion,  the  abolition  of  all 
morality,  and  of  introducing  licentiousness  of  manners.  They  wage  a  religious  war 
usainst  us,  contriving  a  thousand  artifices  to  disturb  and  alarm  the  consciences  of  the 
people,  makin?  the  Spanish  bishops  issue  decrees  of  ecclesiastical  condemnation, 
public  excommunications,  and  dipse-minatina,  through  the  medium  of  some  ignoranl 
confessor,  fanat;cal  doctrines  in  the  tribunal  of  penitence.  By  means  of  these  reli 
gious  discords  hey  hava  divided  families  atrainst  themselves;  they  have  caused  dis 
affection  between  parents  and  children,  they  have  dissolved  the  tender  ties  which 
unite  man  and  wife  ;  they  have  spread  rancor  and  implacable  hatred  between  broth 
ers,  most  endeared,  and  they  have  presumed  to  throw  all  nature  into  discord. 

"  They  have  adopted  th-T  system  of  murdering  men  indiscriminately,  to  diminish 
our  numbers  ;  and,  ou  their  entry  into  towns,  they  have  swept,  off  all,  even  the  market 
people,  leading  th'.-m  to  tho  open  squares,  and  there  shooting  them  one  by  one.  The 
r.iiies  of  Chuquisaca  and  Cochabamba  have  more  than  once  been  the  theatres  of 
these  horrid  slaughters. 

"  They  have  intermixed  with  their  troops  soldiers  of  ours  whom  they  had  taken 
prisoners,  carrying  away  the  officers  in  chains,  to  garrisons  where  it  is  impossible  to 
preserve  health  for  a  year— they  have  left  others  to  die  in  their  prisons  of  hunger  and 
misery,  and  others  they  have  forced  to  hard  labor  on  the  public  works.  They  have 
exuliinirly  put  to  death  our  bearers  of  flagj  of  iruce,  and  have  been  guilty  of  the  black 
est  atrocities  to  our  chiefs,  after  they  had  surrendered  ;  as  well  as  to  other  principal 
characters,  in  disregard  of  the  humanity  with  which  we  treated  prisoners;  as  a  proof 
of  it,  witness  the  deputy  Mutes  of  Potosi,  the  captain  general  Pumacagua,  General 
Augulo,  and  his  brother  commandant  Munecas  and  other  partizan  chiefs,  who  were 
c !i.)t  i'i  cold  blood,  after  having  been  prisoners  for  several  days. 

••  They  took  a  brutal  pleasure  in  cropping  the  ears  of  the  natives  of  the  town  of 
Yille-grar>de,  and  sending  a  basket  full  of  them  as  presents  to  the  head  quarters. 
They  afterwards  burnt  that  town,  and  set  fire  to  thirty  other  populous  towns  of  Peru, 
and  "worse  than  the  worst  of  savages,  shutting  the  inhabitants  up  in  the  houses  before 
setiing  them  on  fire,  that  they  might  be  burnt  alive. 

•'  They  have,  not  only  been  cruel  and  unsparing  in  their  mode  of  murder,  but  they 
have  been  void  of  all  morality  and  public  decency,  causing  aged  ecclesiastics  ana 
women  to  be  lashed  to  a  sun,  and  publicly  flogged,  with  the  abomination  of  first  hav 
ing  them  stripped,  and  their  nakedness  exposed  to  shame,  in  the  presence  of  their 
troops. 

"They  established  an  inquisitorial  system  in  all  these  punishments;  they  have 
seized  on  peaceable  inhabitants,  and  transported  them  across  the  sea,  to  be  judged 
f.ir  suspected  crimes,  and  they  have  put  a  great  number  of  citizens  to  death  every 
where,  without  accusation  or  the  form  of  a  trial. 

"They  have  invented  a  crime  of  unexampled  horror,  in  poisoning  our  water  and 
provisions,  when  they  wt;re  conquered  by  General  Pineto  at  La  Paz,  and  in  return  for 
the  kindness  with  which  he  treated  them,  after  they  had  surrendered  at  discretion, 
ihey  had  the  barbarity  to  blow  up  the  head-quarters,  under  which  they  had  construct 
ed  a  inioe,  and  prepared  a  train  beforehand. 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA.      69 

IrUhe  establishment  of  the  Independence  of  Spanish  America, 
the  United  States  had  the  deepest  interest.  He  had  no  hesita 
tion  in  asserting  his  firm  belief,  that  there  was  no  question  in  the 
foreign  policy  of  this  country,  which  had  ever  arisen,  or  which  he 
could  conceive  as  ever  occurring,  in  the  decision  of  which  we  had 
so  much  at  stake.  This  interest  concerned  our  politics,  our  com 
merce,  our  navigation.  There  could  not  be  a  doubt  that  Spanish 
America,  once  independent,  whatever  might  be  the  form  of  the 
governments  established  in  its  several  parts,  these  govern 
ments  would  be  animated  by  an  American  feeling,  and  guid 
ed  by  an  American  policy.  They  would  obey  the  laws  of 
the  system  of  the  New  World,  of  which  they  would  compose  a 
part,  in  contradistinction  to  that  of  Europe.  Without  the  influ 
ence  of  that  vortex  in  Europe  the  balance  of  power  between  its 
several  parts,  the  preservation  of  which  had  so  often  drenched 
Europe  in  blood,  America  is  sufficiently  remote  to  contemplate 
the  nevfr  wars  which  are  to  afflict  that  quarter  of  the  globq,  as  a 
calm,  if  not  a  cold  and  indifferent  spectator.  In  relation  to  those 
warp,  the  several  parts  of  America  will  generally  stand  neutral. 
And  as,  during  the  period  when  they  rage,  it  will  be  important 
that  a  liberal  system  of  neutrality  should  be  adopted  and  observ 
ed,  all  America  will  be  interested  in  maintaining  and  enforcing 
such  a  system.  The  independence  then  of  Spanish  America 
was  the  interest  of  primary  consideration.  Next  to  that,  and 
highly  important  in  itself,  was  the  consideration  of  the  nature  of 
their  governments.  That  was  ti  question,,  however,  for  them 
selves.  They  would,  no  doubt,  adopt  those  kinds  of  government 
which  were  best  suited  to  their  condition,  best  calculated  for 
their  happiness.  Anxious  as  he  was  that  they  should  be  free 
governments,  we  had  no  right  to  prescribe  for  them.  They 
were,  and  ought  to  be,  the  sole  judges  for  themselves.  He  was 
strongly  inclined  to  believe  that  they  would  in  most,  if  not  all 
parts  of  their  country,  establish  free  governments.  We  were 

"  He  has  branded  us  with  the  stigma  of  rebels,  the  moment  he  returned  to  Madrid  ; 
he  refused  to  listen  to  our  complaints,  or  to  receive  our  supplications  ;  and  as  an  act 
of  extreme  favor,  he  offered  us  a  pardon.  He  confirmed  the  viceroys,  governors  and 
generals  whom  he  found  actually  glutted  with  carnage.  He  declared  us  guilty  of  a 
high  misdemeanor  for  having  dared  to  frame  a  constitution  for  our  own  sovernment, 
free  from  the  control  of  a  deified,  absolute  and  tyrannical  power,  under  which  we 
had  groaned  three  centuries:  a  measure  that  could  be  offensive  only  to  a  prince,  an 
enemy  to  justice  and  beneficence,  and  consequently  unworthy  to  rule  over  us. 

"  He  then  undertook,  with  the  aid  of  his  ministers,  to  equip  large  military  arma 
ments,  to  be  directed  against  us.  He  caused  numerous  armies  to  be  sent  out,  to  con 
summate  the  work  of  devastation,  fire  and  plunder. 

"  He  has  sent  his  generals,  with  certain  decrees  of  pardon,  which  they  publish  to 

ceive  the  ignorant,  and  induce  them  to  facilitate  thjir  entrance  into  towns,  whilst 
at  the  same  time  he  has  given  them  other  secret  instructions,  authorizing  them,  as 
soon  as  they  should  get  possession  of  a  place,  to  hang,  burn,  confiscate  arid  sack  ;  to 
encourage  private  assassinations— and  to  commit  every  species  of  injury  in  their 
power,  against  the  deluded  beings  who  had  confided  in  his  pretended  pardon.  It  is 
in  the  name  of  Ferdinand  of  Bourbon  that  the  heads  of  patriot  officers,  prisoners,  are 
fixed  up  in  the  highways,  that  they  beat  and  stoned  to  death  a  commandant  of  light 
troops,  and  that,  after  having  killed  Colonel  Camugo,  in  the  same  manner  by  tho 
Lands  ot  the  indecent  Centeno,  they  cut  off  his  head  and  sent  it  as  a  present  to  Gen- 
ela,  telling  him  it  was  a  miracle  of  the  virgin  of  the  Carmelites," 


70      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA. 

their  great  example.  Of  us  they  constantly  spoke  as  of  brothers, 
haying  a  similar  origin.  They  adopted  our  principles,  copied 
our  institutions,  and,  in  many  instances,  employed  the  very  lan 
guage  and  sentiments  of  our  revolutionary  papers.  [Here  Mr. 
Clay  read  a  passage  from  the  manifesto  before  cited.*]  But  it  is 
sometimes  said  that  they  are  too  ignorant  and  too  superstitious  to 
admit  of  the  existence  of  free  government.  This  charge  of  ig 
norance  is  often  urged  by  persons  themselves  actually  ignorant 
of  the  real  condition  of  that  people.  He  denied  the  alleged  fact 
of  ignorance  ;  he  denied  the  inference  from  that  fact,  if  it  were 
true,  that  they  wanted  capacity  for  free  government ;  and  he  re 
fused  his  assent  to  the  further  conclusion,  if  the  fact  were  true, 
and  the  inference  just,  that  we  were  to  be  indifferent  to  their 
fate.  All  the  writers  of  the  most  established  authority,  Depons, 
Humboldt,  and  others,  concur  in  assigning  to  the  people  of  Span 
ish  America,  great  quickness,  genius,  and  particular  aptitude  for 
the  acquisition  of  the  exact  sciences ;  and  others  which  they 
have  been  allowed  to  cultivate.  In  astronomy,  geology,  miner 
alogy,  chemistry,  botany,  &c.,  they  are  allowed  to  make  disting 
uished  proficiency.  They  justly  boast  of  their  Abzate,  Velas- 
ques,  and  Gama,  and  other  illustrious  contributors  to  science. 
They  have  nine  universities,  and  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  it  ia 
affirmed  by  Humboldt,  that  there  are  more  solid  scientific  estab 
lishments  than  in  any  city  even  of  North  America.  He  would 
refer  to  the  message  of  the  supreme  director  of  La  Plata,  which 
he  would  hereafter  have  occasion  to  use  for  another  nurpose,  as 
3.  model  of  tine  composition  of  a  state  paper,  challenging  a  com 
parison  with  any,  the  most  celebrated  that  ever  issued  from  the 
pens  of  Jefferson  or  Madison.  Gentlemen  would  egregiously 
err  if  they  formed  their  opinions  of  the  present  moral  condition 
of  Spanish  America,  from  what  it  was  under  the  debasing  sys 
tem  of  Spain.  The  eight  years'  revolution  in  which  it  has  been 
engaged,  has  already  produced  a  powerful  effect. 

Education  had  been  attended  to,  and  genius  developed.  [Here 
Mr.  C.  read  a  passage  from  the  Colonial  Journal,  published  last 
summer  in  Great  Britain,  where  a  disposition  to  exaggerate  on 
that  side  of  the  question,  could  hardly  be  supposed  to  exist. f} 
The  fact  was  not  therefore  true,  that  the  imputed  ignorance  ex 
isted;  but,  if  it  did,  he  repeated  that  he  disputed  the  inference. 

*  "  Having  then  been  thus  impelled  by  the  Spaniards  and  their  king,  we  have  cal 
culated  all  the  consequences,  and  have  constituted  ourselves  independent,  prepared 
to  exercise  the  right  of  nature  to  defend  ourselves  against  the  ravages  of  tyranny,  at 
the  risk  of  our  honor,  our  lives  and  fortune.  We  have  sworn  to  the  only  king  we 
ackno\vled2e,the  supreme  Judge  of  the  world,  that  we  will  not  abandon  the  cause  of 
justice  ;  that  we  will  not  suffer  the  country  which  he  has  given  us  to  be  buried  ia 
ruins,  and  inundated  with  blood,  by  the  hands  of  the  executioner,"  &c. 

t  "  As  soon  as  the  project  of  revolution  arose  on  the  shores  of  La  Plata,  genius  and 
talent  exhibited  their  influence  ;  the  capacity  of  the  people  became  manifest,  and  the 
means  of  acquiring  knowledge  were  soon  made  the  favorite  pursuit  of  the  youth,  An 
far  as  the  wants  or  the  inevitable  interruption  of  affairs  have  allowed,  every  thing  has 
been  done  to  disseminate  useful  information.  The  liberty  of  the  press  has  indeed 
met  with  some  occasional  checks ;  but  in  Buenos  Ayres  alone  as  many  periodical 
works  weekly  issue  from  the  press  as  in  Spain  and  Portugal  put  together*" 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA.     tt 

It  was  the  doctrine  of  thrones,  that  man  was  too  ignorant  to  gov 
ern  himself.  Their  partisans  assert  his  incapacity  in  reference 
to  all  nations ;  if  they  cannot  command  universal  assent  to  the 
proposition,  it  is  then  demanded  as  to  particular  nations;  and  our 
pride  and  our  presumption  too  often  make  converts  of  us.  Mr. 
Clay  contended  that  it  was  to  arraign  the  dispositions  of  Provi 
dence  himself,  to  suppose  that  he  had  created  beings  incapable 
of  governing  themselves,  and  to  be  trampled  on  by  kings.  He 
contended  that  self  government  was  the  natural  government  of 
man,  and  he  referred  to  the  aborigines  of  our  own  land.  If  he 
were  to  speculate  in  hypotheses  unfavorable  to  human  liberty, 
his  should  be  founded  rather  upon  the  vices,  refinements,  or 
density  of  population.  Crowded  together  in  compact  masses, 
even  if  they  were  philosophers,  the  contagion  of  the  passions  is 
communicated  and  caught,  and  the  effect  too  often,  he  admitted, 
was  the  overthrow  of  liberty.  Dispersed  over  such  an  immense 
space  as  that  on  which  the  people  of  Spanish  America  were 
spread,  their  physical,  and  he  believed  also  their  moral  condition, 
both  favored  their  liberty. 

With  regard  to  their  superstition,  Mr.  Clay  said,  they  w'orship- 
ped  the  same  God  with  us.  Their  prayers  were  offered  up  in 
their  temples  to  the  same  Redeemer,  whose  intercession  we  ex 
pected  to  save  us.  Nor  was  there  any  thing  in  the  Catholic  re 
ligion  unfavorable  to  freedom.  All  religions  united  with  govern 
ment  were  more  or  less  inimical  to  liberty.  All  separated  from 
government  were  compatible  with  liberty.  If  the  people  of 
Spanish  America  had  not  already  gone  as  far,  in  religious  tolera 
tion  as  we  had,  the  difference  in  their  condition  from  ours  should 
not  be  forgotten.  Every  thing  was  progressive ;  and,  in  time  he 
hoped  to  see  them  imitating,  in  this  respect,  our  example.  But, 
grant  that  the  people  of  Spanish  America  are  ignorant  and  in 
competent  for  free  government,  to  whom  is  that  ignorance  to  be 
ascribed  ?  Is  it  not  to  the  execrable  system  of  Spain,  which  she 
seeks  again  to  establish  and  to  perpetuate  ?  So  far  from  chilling 
our  hearts,  it  ought  to  increase  our  solicitude  for  our  unfortunate 
brethren.  It  ought  to  animate  us  to  desire  the  redemption  of  the 
minds  and  the  bodies  of  unborn  millions  from  the  brutifying  effects 
of  a  system  whose  tendency  is  to  stifle  the  faculties  of  the  soul, 
and  to  degrade  man  to  the  level  of  beasts.  He  would  invoke  the 
spirits  of  our  departed  fathers.  Was  it  for  yourselves  only  that 
you  nobly  fought  ?  No,  no  !  It  was  the  chains  that  were  forging 
for  your  posterity  that  made  you  fly  to  arms,  and  scattering  the 
elements  of  these  chains  to  the  winds,  you  transmitted  to  us  the 
rich  inheritance  of  liberty. 

The  exports  of  Spanish  America  (exclusive  of  those  of  the 
islands)  are  estimated  in  the  valuable  little  work  of  M.  Torres, 
deserving  to  be  better  known,  at  about  eighty-one  millions  of 
dollars.  Of  these  more  than  three-fourths  consist  of  the  precious 
metals.  The  residue  are  cocoa,  coffee,  cochineal,  sugar,  and 
some  other  articles.  No  nation  ever  offered  richer  commodities 


73    ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP   S.  AMERICA. 

in  exchange.  It  was  of  no  material  consequence  that  \ve  pro 
duced  but  little  that  Spanish  America  wanted.  Commerce,  as  it 
actually  exists,  in  the  hands  of  maritime  states,  was  no  longer 
confined  to  a  mere  barter,  between  any  two  states,  of  their  re 
spective  productions.  It  rendered  tributary  to  its  interests  th& 
commodities  of  all  quarters  of  the  w^rld.  .So  i:  .it  a  rich  Ameri- 
c  •:'.!  cargo,  or  tl.o  contents  of  an  American  commercial  warehouse, 
presented  you  with  whatever  was  rare  or  valuable  in  every  part 
of  the  globe.  Goi,  r:erce  was  not  to  be  judged  by  its  results  in 
transactions  with  one  nation  only.  Unfavorable  balances  exist 
ing  with  one  state  are  made  up  "by  contrary  balances  with  other 
staces.  And  its  true  value  should  be  tested  by  the  totality  of  its 
operations.  Our  greatest  trade — that  with  Great  Britain,  judged 
by  the  amount  of  what  we  sold  for  her  consumption,  and  what 
we  bought  of  her  for  ours,  would  be  pronounced  ruinous.  But 
the  unfavorable  balance  was  covered  by  the  profits  of  trade  with 
other  nations.  We  may  safely  trust  to  the  daring  enterprize  of 
our  merchants.  The  precious  metals  are  in  South  America,  and 
they  will  command  the  articles  wanted  in  South  America,  which 
will  purchase  them.  Our  navigation  will  be  benefitted  by  the 
transportation,  and  our  country  will  realize  the  mercantile  pro 
fits.  Already  the  item  in  our  exports  of  American  manufactures 
is  respectable.  They  go  chiefly  to  the  West  Indies  and  to 
Spanish  America.  This  item  is  constantly  augmenting.  And 
he  would  again,  as  he  had  on  another  occasion,  ask  gentlemen 
to  elevate  themselves  to  the  actual  importance  and  greatness 
of  our  republic ;  to  reflect,  like  true  American  statesmen,  that 
we  were  not  legislating  for  the  present  day  only;  and  to  coiir 
template  this  country  in  its  march  to  true  greatness,  when  mil 
lions  and  millions  will  be  added  to  our  population,  and  when  the 
increased  productive  industry  will  furnish  an  infinite  variety  ol" 
fabrics  for  foreign  consumption,  in  order  to  supply  our  own 
wants.  The  distribution  of  the  precious  metals  has  hitherto 
been  principally  made  through  the  circuitous  channel  of  Cadiz. 
No  one  can  foresee  all  the  effects  which  will  result  from  a  direct 
distribution  of  them  from  the  mines  which  produce  them.  One 
of  these  effects  will  probably  be  to  give  us  the  entire  command 
of  the  Indian  trade.  The  advantage  we  have  on  the  map  of 
the  world  over  Europe,  in  that  respect,  is  prodigious.  Again, 
if  England,  persisting  in  her  colonial  monopoly,  continued  to 
occlude  her  ports  in  the  West  Indies  to  us,  and  we  should,  as  he  * 
contended  we  ought,  meet  her  system  by  a  countervailing  mea 
sure,  Venezuela,  New  Grenada,  and  other  parts  of  Spanish 
America,  would  afford  us  all  we  get  from  the  British  West  In 
dies.  He  confessed  that  he  despaired,  for  the  present,  of  adopt 
ing  that  salutary  measure.  It  was  proposed  at  the  last  session, 
and  postponed.  It  was  during  the  present  session  again  pro 
posed,  and,  he  feared,  would  be  again  postponed.  He  saw,  and 
he.  owned  it  with  infinite  regret,  a  tone  and  a  feeling  in  the  coun 
sels  of  the  country  infinitely  below  that  which  belonged  to  the 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA-      73 

country.  It  was  perhaps  the  moral  consequence  of  the  exer 
tions  of  the  late  war.  We  are  alarmed  ai  dangers,  we  know  not 
what ;  by  spectres  conjured  up  by  our  own  vivid  imaginations. 

The  West  India  bill  is  brought  up.  We  shrug  our  shoulders, 
talk  of  restrictions,  non-intercourse,  embargo,  commercial  war 
fare,  make  long  faces,  and — postpone  the  bill.  The  time  will 
howrever  come,  must  come,  when  this  country  will  not  submit  to 
a  commerce  with  the  British  colonies  upon  the  terms  which  Eng 
land  alone  prescribes.  And,  he  repeated,  that,  when  it  arrived, 
Spanish  America  would  afford  us  an  ample  substitute.  Then, 
as  to  our  navigation;  gentlemen  should  recollect  that,  if  reason 
ing  from  past  experience  were  safe  for  the  future,  our  great 
commercial  rival  will  be  in  war  a  greater  number  of  years  than 
she  will  be  in  peace.  Whenever  she  shall  be  at  war,  and  we 
are  in  peace,  our  navigation,  being  free  from  the  risks  and  in 
surance  incident  to  war,  we  shall  engross  almost  the  whole 
transportation  of  the  Spanish  American  commerce.  For  he  did 
not  believe  that  that  country  would  ever  have  a  considerable 
marine.  Mexico,  the  most  populous  part  of  it,  had  but  two  ports, 
La  Vera  Cruz  and  Acapulca,  and  neither  of  them  very  good. 
Spanish  America  had  not  the  elements  to  construct  a  marine. 
It  wanted,  and  must  always  want,  hardy  seamen.  He  did  not 
believe  that,  in  the  present  improved  state  of  navigation,  any 
nations  so  far  south  would  ever  make  a  figure  as  maritime  pow 
ers.  If  Carthage  and  Rome,  in  ancient  times,  and  some  other 
states  of  a  later  period,  occasionally  made  great  exertions  on 
the  water,  it  must  be  recollected  that  they  were  principally  on  a 
small  theatre,  and  in  a  totally  different  state  of  the  art  ol  navi 
gation,  or  when  there  was  no  competition  from  northern  states. 

He  was  aware  that,  in  opposition  to  the  interest  which  he  had 
been  endeavoring  to  manifest,  that  this  country  had  in  the  inde 
pendence  of  Spanish  America,  it  was  contended  that  we  should 
find  that  country  a  great  rival  in  agricultural  productions. — 
There  wTas  something  so  narrow  and  selfish  and  grovelling  in 
this  argument,  if  founded  in  fact,  something  so  unworthy  the 
magnanimity  of  a  great  and  a  generous  people,  that  he  con 
fessed  he  had  scarcely  patience  to  notice  it.  But  it  was  not  true 
to  any  extent.  Of  the  eighty  odd  millions  of  exports,  only  about 
one  million  and  a  half  consisted  of  an  article  which  might  come 
into  competition  writh  us,  and  that  was  cotton.  The  tobacco 
which  Spain  derived  from  her  colonies  was  chiefly  produced  in 
her  islands.  Bread  stuffs  could  no  where  be  raised  and  brought 
to  market  in  any  amount  materially  affecting  us.  The  table 
lands  of  Mexico,  owing  to  their  elevation,  were,  it  was  true,  well 
adapted  to  the  culture  of  grain;  but  the  expense  and  difficulty 
of  getting  it  to  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  action  of  the  intense 
heat  at  La  Vera  Cruz,  the  only  port  of  exportation,  must  always 
prevent  Mexico  from  being  an  alarming  competitor.  Spanish 
America  was  capable  of  producing  articles  so  much  more  valuo- 
7 


74      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA. 

ble  than  those  which  we  raised,  that  it  was  not  probable  they 
would  abandon  a  more  profitable  lor  a  less  advantageous  cul 
ture,  to  come  into  competition  with  us.  The  West  India  islands 
were  well  adapted  to  the  raising  of  cotton;  and  yet  the  more 
valuable  culture  of  coffee  and  sugar  was  constantly  preferred. 
Again,  Providence  had  so  ordered  it,  that,  with  regard  to  coun 
tries  producing  articles  apparently  similar,  there  was  some  pe 
culiarity,  resulting  from  climate,  or  from  some  other  cause,  that 
gave  to  each  an  appropriate  place  in  the  general  wants  and 
consumption  of  mankind.  The  southern  part  of  the  continent, 
La  Plata  and  Chili,  was  too  remote  to  rival  us. 

The  immense  country,  watered  by  the  Mississippi  and  its 
branches,  had  a  peculiar  interest,  which  he  trusted  he  should  be 
excused  for  noticing.  Having  but  the  single  vent  of  New-Or- 
ieans,  for  all  the  surplus  produce  of  their  industry,  it  was  quite 
evident  that  they  would  have  a  greater  security  for  enjoying  the 
advantages  of  that  outlet,  if  the  independence  of  Mexico  upon 
any  European  power  were  effected.  Such  a  power,  owning 
at  the  same  time  Cuba,  the  great  key  of  the  galf  of  Mexico, 
and  all  the  shores  of  that  gulf,  with  the  exception  of  the  portion 
between  the  Perdido  and  the  Rio  del  Norte,  must  have  a  power 
ful  command  over  our  interests.  Spain,  it  was  true,  was  not  a 
dangerous  neighbor  at  present  but,  in  the  vicissitudes  of  states, 
her  power  might  be  again  resuscitated. 

Mr.  C.  continued.  Having  shown  that  the  cause  of  the  pa 
triots  was  just,  and  that  we  had  a  great  interest  in  its  successful 
issue,  he  would  next  inquire  what  course  of  policy  it  became  us 
to  adopt.  He  had  already  declared  that  to  be  one  of  strict  and 
impartial  neutrality.  It  was  not  necessary  for  their  interests,  it 
was  not  expedient  for  our  own,  that  we  should  take  part  in  the 
war.  All  they  demanded  of  us  was  a  just  neutrality.  It  waa 
compatible  with  this  pacific  policy — it  was  required  by  it,  that 
we  should  recognize  any  established  government,  if  there  were 
any  established  government  in  Spanish  America.  Recognition 
alone,  without  aid,  was  no  just  cause  of  war.  With  aid,  it  was, 
not  because  of  the  recognition,  but  because  of  the  aid,  as  aid, 
without  recognition,  was  cause  of  war.  The  truth  of  these 
propositions  he  would  maintain  upon  principle,  by  the  practice 
of  other  states,  and  by  the  usage  of  our  own.  There  waa  no 
common  tribunal,  among  nations,  to  pronounce  upon  the  fact 
of  the  sovereignty  of  a  new  state.  Each  power  does  and  must 
judge  for  itself.  It  was  an  attribute  of  sovereignty  so  to  judge. 
A  nation,  in  exerting  this  incontestible  right — in  pronouncing 
upon  the  independence,  in  fact,  of  a  new  state,  takes  no  part  in 
the  war.  It  gives  neither  men,  nor  ships,  nor  money.  It  merely 
pronounces  that,  in  so  far  as  it  may  be  necessary  to"  institute  any 
relations,  or  to  support  any  intercourse,  writh  the  new  power, 
that  power  is  capable  of  maintaining  those  relations,  and  author 
izing  that  intercourse.  Martens  and  other  publicists  lay  down 
these  principles. 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA.      75 

When  the  United  Provinces  formerly  severed  themselves  from 
Spain,  it,  was  about  eighty  years  before  their  independence  was 
finally  recognized  by  Spain.  Before  that  recognition,  the  Uni 
ted  Provinces  had  been  received  by  all  the  rest  of  Europe  into 
the  family  of  nations.  It  is  true  that  a  war  broke  out  between 
Philip  and  Elizabeth,  but  it  proceeded  from  the  aid  which  she 
determined  to  give,  and  did  give,  to  Holland.  In  no  instance, 
he  believed,  could  it  be  shown,  from  authentic  history,  that  Spain 
made  war  upon  any  power  on  the  sole  ground  that  such  power 
had  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  United  Provinces. 

In  the  case  of  our  own  revolution,  it  was  not  until  after  France 
had  given  us  aid,  and  had  determined  to  enter  into  a  treaty  of 
alliance  with  us — a  treaty  by  which  she  guarantied  our  in 
dependence — that  England  declared  war.  Holland  also  was 
charged  by  England  with  favoring  our  cause,  and  deviating 
from  the  line  of  strict  neutrality.  And,  when  it  was  perceived  that 
she  was  moreover  about  to  enter  into  a  treaty  with  us,  England 
declared  war.  Even  if  it  were  shown  that  a  proud,  haughty  and 
powerful  nation,  like  England,  had  made  war  upon  other  provinces 
on  the  ground  of  a  mere  recognition,  the  single  example  could 
not  alter  the  public  law,  or  shake  the  strength  of  a  clear  principle. 

But  what  had  been  our  uniform  practice  ?  We  had  constantly 
proceeded  on  the  principle,  that  the  government  de  facto  was 
that  we  could  alone  notice.  Whatever  form  of  government  any 
society  of  people  adopts ;  whoever  they  acknowledge  as  their 
sovereign,  we  consider  that  government  or  that  sovereign  as  the 
one  to  be  acknowledged  by  us.  We  have  invariably  abstained 
from  assuming  a  right  to  decide  in  favor  of  the  sovereign  de  fu- 
re,  and  against  the  sovereign  dc  facto.  That  is  a  question  'for 
the  nation  in  which  it  arises  to  determine.  And  so  far  as  we  are 
concerned,  the  sovereign  de  facto  is  the  sovereign  dejure.  Our 
own  revolution  stands  on  the  basis  of  the  right  of  a  people  to 
change  their  rulers.  He  did  not  maintain  that  every  immature 
revolution — every  usurper,  before  his  power  was  consolidated, 
was  to  be  acknowledged  by  us ;  but  that  as  soon  as  stability  and 
order  were  maintained,  no  matter  by  whom,  we  always  had  con 
sidered,  arid  ought  to  consider  the  actual  as  the  true  government 
General  Washington,  Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Madison,  had  all,  whilst 
they  were  respectively  presidents,  acted  on  these  principles. 

In  the  case  of  the  French  republic,  Gen.  Washington  did  not 
wait  until  some  of  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  should  set  him 
the  example  of  acknowledging  it,  but  accredited  a  minister  at 
once.  Arid  it  is  remarkable  that  he  was  received  before  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  republic  was  considered  as  established.  It  will 
be  found,  in  Marshall's  life  of  Washington,  that  when  it  was  un 
derstood  that  a  minister  from  the  French  republic  was  about  to 
present  himself,  President  Washington  submitted  a  number  of 
questions  to  his  cabinet  for  their  consideration  and  advice,  one 
of  which  was,  whether,  upon  the  reception  of  the  minister,  he 
should  be  notified  that  America  would  suspend  the  execution  of 


76      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA. 

the  treaties  between  the  two  countries  until  France  had  an  es 
tablished  government.  Gen.  Washington  did  not  stop  to  inquire 
whether  the  descendants  of  St.  Louis  were  to  be  considered  as 
the  legitimate  sovereigns  of  France,  and  if  the  revolution  was 
to  be  regarded  as  unauthorized  resistance  to  their  sway.  He 
saw  France,  in  fact,  under  the  government  of  those  who  had  sub 
verted  the  throne  of  the  Bourbons,  and  he  acknowledged  the  ac 
tual  government.  During  Mr.  Jefferson's  and  Mr.  Madison's 
administrations,  when  the  Cortes  of  Spain  and  Joseph  Bonaparte 
respectively  contended  for  the  crown,  those  enlightened  states 
men  said,  we  will  receive  a  minister  from  neither  pa)  ty ;  settle 
the  question  between  yourselves,  and  we  will  acknowledge  the 
party  that  prevails.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  your  feuds ; 
whoever  all  Spain  acknowledges  as  her  sovereign,  is  the  only 
sovereign  with  whom  we  can  maintain  any  relations.  Mr.  Jef 
ferson,  it  is  understood,  considered  whether  he  should  not  receive 
a  minister  from  both  parties,  and  finally  decided  against  it,  be 
cause  of  the  inconveniences  to  this  country,  which  might  result 
from  the  double  representation  of  another  power.  As  soon  as 
the  French  armies  were  expelled  from  the  Peninsula,  Mr.  Madi 
son,  still  acting  on  the  principle  of  the  government  de  facto.!  re 
ceived  the  present  minister  from  Spain.  During  all  the  phases 
of  the  French  government,  republic,  directory,  consuls,  consul 
for  life;  emperor,  king,  emperor  again,  king,  our  government  has 
uniformly  received  the  minister. 

If,  then,  there  be  an  established  government  in  Spanish  Ameri 
ca,  deserving  to  rank  among  the  nations,  we  were  morally  and 
politically  bound  to  acknowledge  it,  unless  we  renounced  all  the 
principles  which  ought  to  guide,  and  which  hitherto  had  guided, 
our  councils.  Mr.  ^C.  then  undertook  to  show,  that  the  united 
provinces  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  possessed  such  a  government. 
Its  limits,  he  said,  extending  from  the  south  Atlantic  ocean  to  the 
Pacific,  embraced  a  territory  equal  to  that  of  the  United  States, 
certainly  equal  to  it,  exclusive  of  Louisiana.  Its  population  was 
about  three  millions,  more  than  equal  to  ours  at  the  commence 
ment  of  our  revolution.  That  population  was  a  hardy,  enterpri 
sing  and  gallant  population.  The  establishments  of  Monte  Video 
and  Buenos  Ayres  had,  during  different  periods  of  their  history, 
been  attacked  by  the  French,  Dutch,  Danes.  Portuguese,  English 
and  Spanish ;  and  such  was  the  martial  character  of  the  people, 
that  in  every  instance  the  attack  had  been  repulsed.  In  1807, 
General  Whitlocke,  commanding  a  powerful  English  army,  was. 
admitted,  under  the  guise  of  a  friend,  into  Buenos  Ayres,  and  as 
soon  as  he  was  supposed  to  have  demonstrated  inimical  designs, 
he  was  driven  by  the  native  and  unaided  force  of  Buenos  Ayres 
from  the  country.  Buenos  Ayres  had,  during  now  nearly  eight 
years,  been  in  point  of  fact  in  the  enjoyment  of  self-government. 
"The  capital,  containing  more  than  sixty  thousand  inhabitants, 
has  never  been  once  lost.  As  early  as  1811,  the  regency  of  Old 
Spain  made  war  upon  Buenos  Ayres,  and  the  consequence  sub- 


ON  THE   EMANCIPATION  OF    S.  AMERICA.    77 


was,  the  capture  of  a  Spanish  army  in  Monte  Video, 
equal  to  that  of  Burgoyne.  This  government  has  now,  in  excel 
lent  discipline,  three  well  appointed  armies,  with  the  most,  abun 
dant  material  of  war;  the  army  of  Chili  —  the  army  of  Peru,  and 
the  army  of  Buenos  Ayres.  The  first  under  San  Martin,  has 
conquered  Chili  ;  the  second  is  penetrating  in  a  north-western 
direction  from  Buenos  Ayres,  into  the  vice-royalty  of  Peru;  and 
according  to  the  last  accounts,  had  reduced  the  ancient  seat  of 
empire  of  the  Incas.  The  third  remains  at  Buenos  Ayres  to  op 
pose  any  force  which  Spain  may  send  against  it.  To  show  the 
condition  of  the  country  in  July  last.  Mr.  C.  again  called  the  at 
tention  of  the  committee  to  the  message  of  the  supreme  director, 
delivered  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  Provinces.  It  was  a 
paper  of  the  same  authentic  character  with  the  speech  of  the 
king  of  England  on  opening  his  parliament  or  the  message  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  at  the  commencement  of 
Congress.*  There  was  a  spirit  of  bold  confidence  running 


*  The  following  are  the  passages  read  by  Mr.  Clay. 

"The  army  of  this  capital  was  organized  at  the  same  time  with  those  of  the  Andes 
and  of  the  interior;  the  regular  force  has  been  nearly  doubled :  the  militia  has  made 
preat  progress  in  military  discipline  ;  our  slave  population  has  been  formed  into  bat 
talions,  and  taught  the  military  art  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  their  condition.  The 
capital  is  under  no  apprehension  that  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men  can  shake  its 
liberties,  and  should  the  PenrnsnlarianSBeml  against  us  thrice  that  number,  ample 
provision  has  been  made  to  receive  them. 

"  Our  navy  has  been  fostered  in  all  its  branches.  The  scarcity  of  means  under 
which  \ve  labored  until  now.  has  not,  prevented  us  from  undertaking  very  considera 
ble  operations,  with  respect  to  1  lie  national  vessels:  all  of  them  have  been  repaired, 
anil  others  have  been  purchased  and  armed,  for  the  defence  of  our  coasts  and  rivers  ;' 
provisions  have  been  made,  should  necessity  require  it,  for  arming  many  more,  so 
that  the  enemy  will  not  find  himself  secure  from  our  reprisals  even  upon  the  ocean. 

"Our  miliury  f:rce.  at  every  point  which  it  occupies,  seems  to  be  animated  with 
the  same  spirit;  its  tactics  are  uniform,  and  have  undergone  a  rapid  improvement 
from  the  science  of  experience,  which  it,  hag  borrowed  from  warlike  nations. 

"  Our  arsenals  have  been  replenished  with  arms,  and  a  sufficient  store  of  cannon 
and  munitions  of  war  have  been  provided  to  maintain  the  contest  for  many  years;  and 
this,  after  having  supplied  articles  of  every  description  to  those  districts,  which  have 
not  as  yet  come  into  the  union,  but  whose  connexion  with  us  has  been  only  intercept 
ed  by  reason  of  our  past  misfortunes. 

•'  Our  legions  daily  receive  considerable  augmentations  from  new  levies;  all  our 
preparations  have  been  made,  as  though  we  were  about  to  enter  upon  the  contest 
anew.  Until  now,  the  vastness  of  our  "resources  was  unknown  to  us,  and  our  ene 
mies  may  contemplate,  with  deep  mortification  and  despair,  the  present  flourishing 
state  of  these  provinces  after  so  many  devastations. 

"  Whilst  thus  occupied  in  providing,  for  our  safety  within,  and  preoaring  for  assaults 
from  without,  other  objects  of  solid  interest  have  not  been  neglected,  and  which  hith 
erto  were  thought  to  oppose  insurmountable  obstacles. 

"Our  system  of  finance  had  hitherto  been  on  a  foot  in?  entirely  inadequate  to  the 
unfailing  supply  of  our  wants,  and  still  more  to  the  liquidation  of  the  immense  debt 
which  had  been  contracted  informer  years.  An  unremitted  application  to  this  ob 
ject  has  enabled  me  to  create  the  means  of  satisfying  the  creditors  of  the  state,  who 
had  already  abandoned  their  debts  as  lost,  as  well  as  to  devise  a  fixed  mode,  by  which 
xhe  taxes  may  be  made  to  fall  equally  and  indirectly  on  the  whole  mass  of  our  popu- 
laiion  ;  it  is  not  the  least  merit  of  thi's  operation,  that  it  has  been  effected  in  despite 
m  the  writings  by  which  it  was  attacked,  and  which  are  but  little  creditable  to  the 
intelligence  and  good  intentions  of  their  authors.  At  no  other  period  have  the  public 
exigences  beea  so  punctually  suoplied,  nor  have  mure  important  works  been  under 
taken. 

u  The  people,  moreover,  have  been  relieved  from  many  burdens,  which  being  par- 
iial,  or  Coafined  to  particular  classes,  had  occasioned  vexation  and  disgust.  Other  vai- 


78      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA. 

through  this  fine  state  paper,  which  nothing  but  conscious  strength 
could  communicate.  Their  armies,  their  magazines,  their  finan 
ces,  were  on  the  most  solid  and  respectable  footing.  And,  amidst 
all  the  cares  of  war,  and  those  incident  to  the  consolidation  of 
their  new  institutions,  leisure  was  found  to  promote  the  interests 
of  science,  and  the  education  of  the  rising  generation.  It  was 
true,  that  the  first  part  of  the  message  portrayed  scenes  of  diffi 
culty  and  commotion,  the  usual  attendants  upon  revolution.  The 
very  avowal  of  their  troubles  manifested,  however,  that  they  were 
subdued.  And  what  state,  passing  through  the  agitations  of  a 
great  revolution,  was  free  from  them  ?  We  had  our  tories,  our 
intrigues,  our  factions.  More  than  once  were  the  affections  of 
the  country,  and  the  confidence  of  our  councils,  attempted  to  be 
shaken  in  the  great  father  of  our  liberties.  Not  a  Spanish  bay 
onet  remains  within  the  immense  extent  of  the  territories  of  La 
Plata  to  contest  the  authority  of  the  actual  government.  It  is 
free,  it  is  independent — it  is  sovereign.  It  manages  the  interests 
of  the  society  that  submits  to  its  sway.  It  is  capable  of  main 
taining  the  relations  between  that  society  and  other  nations. 

Are  we  not  bound,  then,  upon  our  own  principles,  to  acknow 
ledge  this  new  republic  ?  If  we  do  not,  who  will  ?  Are  we  to 
expect  that  kings  will  set  us  the  example  of  acknowledging  the 
only  republic  on  earth,  except  our  own?  We  receive,  promptly 
receive,  a  minister  from  whatever  king  sends  us  one.  From  the 
great  powers,  and  the  little  powers,  we  accredit  ministers.  We 
do  more :  we  hasten  to  reciprocate  the  compliment ;  and  anx- 
'ious  to  manifest  our  gratitude  for  royal  civility,  we  send  for  a 
minister  (as  in  the  case  of  Sweden  and  the  Netherlands)  of  the 
lowest  grade,  one  of  the  highest  rank  recognized  by  our  laws. 

ations  scarcely  less  grievous,  will  by  degrees  be  also  suppressed,  avoiding  as  far  as 
possible  a  recurrence  to  loans,  which  have  drawn  after  them  the  most  fatal  conse 
quences  to  states.  Should  we,  however,  be  compelled  to  resort  to  such  expedients, 
the  lenders  will  not  see  themselves  in  danger  of  losing  their  advances. 

"Many  undertakings  have  been  set  cm  foot  for  the  advancement  of  the  general 
prosperity.  Such  has" been  the  re-establishing  of  the  college,  heretofore- named  San 
Carlos,  but  hereafter  to  be  called  the  Union  of  the  South,  as  a  point  designated  for  the 
dissemination  of  learning  to  the  youth  of -every  part  of  the  state,  on  the  most  exten 
sive  scale,  for  the  attainment  of  which  object  the  government  is  at  the  present  mo 
ment  engaged  in  putting  in  practice  every  possible  diligence.  It  will  not  be  long 
before  these  nurseries  will  flourish,  in  which  the  liberal  and  exact  sciences  will  be 
cultivated,  in  which  the  hearts  of  those  young  men  will  be  formed,  who  are  destined 
at  some  future  day  to  add  new  splendor  to  our  country. 

if  Such  has' been  the  establishment  of  a  military  depot  on  the  frontier,  with  its  spa 
cious  magazine,  a  necessary  measure  to  guard  us  fr.iin  luture  dangers,  a  work  which 
does  more  honor  to  the  prudent  foresight  of  our  country,  as  it  was  undertaken  in  the 
moment  of  its  prosperous  fortunes,  a  measure  which  must  give  more  occasion  for  re 
flection  to  our  enemies,  than  they  can  impose  upon  us  by  their  boastings. 

if  Fellow-citizens,  we  owe  our  unhappy  reverses  and  calamities  to  the  depraving 
system  of  our  ancient  metropolis,  which  in  condemning  us  to  the  obscurity  ahd  op 
probrium  of  the  most  degraded  destiny,  has  sown  with  thorns  the  path  that  conducts 
us  to  liberty.  Tell  that  metropolis  that  even  she  may  glory  in  your  works !  Already 
have  you  cleared  all  the  rocks,  escaped  every  danger,  and  conducted  these  provinces 
to  the  flourishing  condition  in  which  we  now  behold  them.  Let  the  enemies  of  your 
name  contemplate  with  despair  the  energies  of  your  virtues,  and  let  the  nations  ac 
knowledge  that  you  already  appertain  to  their  illustrious  rank.  Let  us  felicitate  our 
selves  on  the  blessings  we  have  already  obtained,  and  let  us  show  to  the  world  that 
we  have  learned  to  profit  by  the  experience  of  our  past  misfortunes." 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA.      79 

We  were  the  natural  head  of  the  American  family.  He  would 
not  intermeddle  in  the  affairs  of  Europe.  We  wisely  kept 
aloof  from  their  broils.  He  would  not  even  intermeddle  in 
those  of  other  parts  of  America,  farther  than  to  exert  the  incon- 
testible  rights  appertaining  to  us  as  a  free,  sovereign,  and  inde 
pendent  power ;  and,  he  contended,  that  the  accrediting  of  a  mi 
nister  from  the  new  republic  was  such  a  right.  We  were  bound 
to  receive  their  minister,  if  we  meant  to  be  really  neutral.  If 
the  royal  belligerent  were  represented  and  heard  at  our  govern 
ment,  the  republican  belligerent  ought  also  to  be  heard.  Oth 
erwise,  one  party  would  be  in  the  condition  of  the  poor  patriots 
who  were  tried  exparte  the  other  day  in  the  Supreme  Court,  with 
out  counsel,  without  friends.  Give  Mr.  Onis  his  conge,  or  receive  the 
republican  minister.  Unless  you  do  so,  your  neutrality  is  nominal. 
Mr.  C.  next  proceeded  to  inquire  into  the  consequences  of  a 
recognition  of  the  new  republic.  Will  it  involve  us  in  war  with 
Spain?  He  had  shown,  he  trusted,  successfully  shown,  that 
there  was  no  just  cause'  of  war  to  Spain.  Being  no  cause  of 
war,  we  had  no  right  to  expect  that  war  would  ensue.  If  Spain, 
without  cause,  would  make  war,  she  may  make  it  whether  we 
do  or  do  not  acknowledge  the  republic.  But  she  would  not,  be 
cause  she  could  not,  make  war  against  us.  He  called  the  atten 
tion  of  the  committee  to  a  report  of  the  minister  of  the  Hacienda 
to  the  king  of  Spain,  presented  about  eight  months  ago.  A 
more  beggarly  account  of  empty  boxes,  Mr.  C.  said,  was  never 
rendered.  The  picture  of  Mr.  Dallas,'  sketched  in  his  celebra 
ted  report  during  the  last  war,  may  be  contemplated  without 
emotion,  after  surveying  that  of  Mr.  Gary.  The  expenses  of' 
the  current  year  required  eight  hundred  and  thirty  millions  two 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  of  reals,  and  the  deficit  of  the  income  is  represented  as  two 
hundred  and  thirty-three  millions  one  hundred  and  forty  thou 
sand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-two  of  reals.  This,  besides  an  im 
mense  mass  of  unliquidated  debt,  which  the  minister  acknow 
ledges  the  utter  inability  of  the  country  to  pay,  although  bound 
in  honor  to  redeem  it.  He  states  that  the  vassals  of  the"  king 
are  totally  unable  to  submit  to  any  new  taxes,  and  the  country 
is  without  credit,  so  as  to  render  anticipation  by  loans  wholly  im 
practicable.  Mr.  Gary  appears  to  be  a  virtuous  man,  who  exhi 
bits  frankly  the  naked  truth ;  and  yet  such  a  minister  acknow 
ledges,  that  the  decorum  due  to  one  single  family,  that  of  the 
monarch,  does  not  admit,  in  this  critical  condition  of  his  country, 
any  reduction  of  the  enormous  sum  of  upwards  of  fifty-six  mill 
ions  of  reals,  set  apart  to  defray  the  expenses  of  that  family ! 
He  states  that  a  foreign  war  would  be  the  greatest  of  all  calami 
ties,  and  one  which,  being  unable  to  provide  for  it,  they  ought 
to  employ  every  possible  means  to  avert.  He  proposed  some  in 
considerable  contribution  from  the  clergy,  and  the  whole  body 
was  instantly  in  an  uproar.  Indeed,  Mr.  C.  had  no  doubt,  that, 
surrounded  as  Mr.  Gary  was,  by  corruption,  by  intrigue,  and 


80     ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA. 

folly,  and  imbecility,  he  would  be  compelled  to  retire,  if  he  had 
not  already  been  dismissed,  from  a  post  for  which  he  had  too 
much  integrity.  It  had  been  now  about  four  years  since  the  re 
storation  of  Ferdinand ;  and  if,  during  that  period,  the  whole 
energies  of  the  monarchy  had  been  directed  unsuccessfully 
against  the  weakest  and  most  vulnerable  of  all  the  American 
possessions,  Venezuela,  how  was  it  possible  for  Spain  to  encoun 
ter  the  difficulties  of  a  new  war  with  this  country  ?  Morillo  had 
been  sent  out  with  one  of  the  finest  armies  that  had  ever  left  the 
shores  of  Europe — consisting  of  ten  thousand  men,  chosen  from 
all  the  veterans  who  had  fought  in  the  Peninsula.  It  had  sub 
sequently  been  reinforced  with  about  three  thousand  more.  And 
yet,  during  the  last  summer,  it  was  reduced,  by  the  sword  and 
the  climate,  to  about  four  thousand  effective  men.  And  Venezu 
ela,  containing  a  population  of  only  about  one  million,  of  which 
near  two-thirds  were  persons  of  color,  remained  unsubdued.  The 
little  island  of  Margaritt.a,  whose  population  was  less  than  twenty 
thousand  inhabitants — a  .population  fighting  for  liberty  with 
more  than  Roman  valor— had  compelled  that  army  to  retire  upon 
the  main.  Spain,  by  the  late  accounts,  appeared  to  be  delibera 
ting  upon  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  that  measure  of  conscrip 
tion  for  which  Bonaparte  had  been  so  much  abused.  The  effect 
of  a  war  with  this  country  would  be  to  ensure  success,  beyond 
all  doubt,  to  the  cause  of  American  independence.  Those  parts 
even,  over  which  Spain  has  some  prospect  of  maintaining  her 
dominions,  would  probably  be  put  in  jeopardy.  Such  a  war 
woujd  be  attended  with  the  immediate  and  certain  loss  of  .Flo 
rida.  Commanding  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  as  we  should  be  ena 
bled  to  do  by  our  navy,  blockading  the  port  of  Havana,  the  port 
of  La  Vera  Cruz,  and  the  coast  of  Terra  Firmaj  and  throwing 
munitions  of  war  into  Mexico,  Cuba  would  be  menaced— Mex"- 
ico  emancipated — and  Morillo's  army  deprived  of  supplies,  now 
drawn  principally  from  this  country  through  the  Havana,  compel 
led  to  surrender.  The  war,  he  verily  believed,  would  be  termina 
ted  in  less  than  two  years,  supposing  no  other  power  to  interpose. 
Will  the  allies  interfere  ?  If,  by  the  exert  ion  of  an  unques 
tionable  attribute  of  a  sovereign  power,  we  should  give  no  just 
cause  of  war  to  Spain  herself,  how  could  it  be  pretended  that  we 
should  furnish  even  a  specious  pretext  to  the  allies  for  making 
war  upon  us  ?  On  what  ground  could  they  attempt  to  justify  a 
rupture  with  us,  for  the  exercise  of  a  right  which  we  hold  in 
common  with  them,  and  with  every  other  independent  state  ? 
But  we  have  a  surer  guarantee  against  their  hostility,  in  their 
interests.  That  all  the  allies,  who  have  any  foreign  commerce, 
have  an  interest  in  the  independence  of  Spanish  America,  was 
perfectly  evident.  On  what  ground,  he  asked,  was  it  likely,  then, 
that  they  would  support  Spain,  in  opposition  to  their  own  deci 
ded  interest?  To  crush  the  spirit  of  revolt,  and  prevent  the  pro 
gress  of  free  principles  ?  Nations,  like  individuals,  do  not  sen- 
eibJy  feel,  and  seldom  act  upon^dangers  which  are  remote  either 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OP  S.  AMERICA.     81 

in  time  or  place.  Of  Spanish  America,  but  little  is  known  by 
the  great  body  of  the  population  of  Europe.  Even  in  this 
country,  the  most  astonishing  ignorance  prevails  respecting 
them.  Those  European  statesmen  who  were  acquainted  with 
the  country,  would  reflect,  that,  tossed  by  a  great  revolution,  it 
would  most  probably  constitute  four  or  five  several  nations,  and 
that  the  ultimate  modification  of  all  their  various  governments 
was  by  no  means  absolutely  certain.  But,  Mr.  C.  said,  he  en 
tertained  no  doubt  that  the  principle  of  cohesion  among  the  al 
lies  was  gone.  It  was  annihilated  in  the  memorable  battle  of 
Waterloo.  When  the  question  was,  whether  one  should  engross 
all,  a  common  danger  united  all.  How  long  was  it,  even  wTith  a 
clear  perception  of  that  danger,  before  an  ell'ective  coalition  could 
be  formed  ?  How  often  did  one  power  stand  by,  unmoved  and 
indifferent  to  the  fate  of  its  neighbor,  although  the  destruction 
of  that  neighbor  removed  the  only  barrier  to  an  attack  upon  it 
self?  No  ;  the  consummation  of  the  cause  of  the  allies  was, 
and  all  history  and  all  experience  would  prove  it,  the  destruction 
of  the  alliance.  The  principle  was  totally  changed.  It  was  no 
longer  a  common  struggle  against  the  colossal  power  of  Bona 
parte,  but  it  became  a  common  scramble  for  the  spoils  of  his  em 
pire.  There  may,  indeed,  be  one  or  two  points  on  which  a  com 
mon  interest  still  exists,  such  as  the  convenience  of  subsisting 
their  armies  on  the  vitals  of  poor  suffering  France.  But  as  for 
action — for  new  enterprises,  there  was  no  principle  of  unity, 
there  could  be  no  accordance  of  interests,  or  of  views,  among 
them. 

What  was  the  condition  in  which  Europe  was  left  after  all  its 
efforts?  It  was  divided  into  two  great  powers,  one  having  the 
undisputed  command  of  the  land — the  other  of  the  water.  Paris 
was  transferred  to  St.  Petersburg!!,  and  the  navies  of  Europe 
were  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  or  concentrated  in  the  ports  of  Eng 
land.  Russia — that  huge  land  animal — awing  by  the  dread  of 
her  vast  power  all  continental  Europe,  was  seeking  to  encompass 
the  Porte  ;  and  constituting  herself  the  kraken  of  the  ocean,  was 
anxious  to  lave  her  enormous  sides  in  the  more  genial  waters  of 
the  Mediterranean.  It  was  said,  he  knew,  that  she  had  indicated 
a  disposition  to  take  part  with  Spain.  No  such  thing.  She  had 
sold  some  old  worm-eaten,  decayed  fir-built  ships  to  Spain,  but 
the  crews  which  navigated  them,  were  to  return  from  the  port  of 
delivery,  and  the  bonus  she  was  to  get,  he  believed  to  be  the 
island  of  Minorca,  in  conformity  with  the  cardinal  point  of  her 
policy.  France  was  greatly  interested  in  whatever  would  extend 
her  commerce,  and  regenerate  her  marine,  and  consequently, 
more  than  any  other  power  of  Europe,  England  alone  excepted, 
was  concerned  in  the  independence  of  Spanish  America.  He 
did  not  despair  of  France,  so  long  as  France  had  a  legislative 
body,  collected  from  all  its  parts,  the  great  repository  of  its 
wishes  and  its  will.  Already  had  that  body  manifested  a  spirit 
of  considerable  independence.  And  those  who.  conversant  with 


82      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA. 

French  history,  knew  what  magnanimous  stands  had  been  made 
by  the  parliaments,  bodies  of  limited  extent,  against  the  royal 
prerogative,  would  be  able  to  appreciate  justly  the  moral  force 
of  such  a  legislative  body.  Whilst  it  exists,  the  true  interests  of 
France  will  be  cherished  and  pursued  on  points  of  foreign  policy, 
in  opposition  to  the  pride  and  interests  of  the  Bourbon  family,  if 
the  actual  dynasty,  impelled  by  this  pride,  should  seek  to  sub 
serve  these  interests. 

England  finds  that,  after  all  her  exertions,  she  is  every  where 
despised  on  the  continent;  her  maritime  power  viewed  with 
jealousy ;  her  commerce  subjected  to  the  most  onerous  restric 
tions  ;  selfishness  imputed  to  all  her  policy.  All  the  accounts 
from  France  represent  that  every  party,  Bonapartists,  Jacobins, 
Royalists,  Moderes,  Ultras,  all  burn  with  indignation  towards 
England,  and  pant  for  an  opportunity  to  avenge  themselves  on 
the  power  to  whom  they  ascribe  all  their  disasters. 

[Here  Mr.  C.  read  a  part  of  a  letter  which  he  had  just  received 
from  an  intelligent  friend  at  Paris,  and  which  composed  only  a 
email  portion  of  a  mass  of  evidence  to  the  same  effect,  which  had 
come  under  his  notice.]  It  was  impossible,  he  said,  that  with 
powers,  between  whom  so  much  cordial  dislike,  so  much  incon 
gruity  existed,  there  could  be  any  union  or  concert.  Whilst  the 
free  principles  of  the  French  revolution  remained ;  those  prin 
ciples  which  were  so  alarming  to  the  stability  of  thrones,  there 
never  had  been  any  successful  or  cordial  union ;  coalition  aftei 
coalition,  wanting  the  spirit  of  union,  was  swept  away  by  the 
overwhelming  power  of  France.  It  was  not  until  those  prin 
ciples  were  abandoned  and  Bonaparte  had  erected  on  their  ruins 
his  stupendous  fabric  of  universal  empire — nor  indeed  until  aftei 
the  frosts  of  Heaven  favored  the  cause  of  Europe,  that  an  effec 
tive  coalition  was  formed.  No,  said  Mr.  C.,  the  complaisance 
inspired  in  the  allies  from  unexpected,  if  not  undeserved  success, 
might  keep  them  nominally  together ;  but  for  all  purposes  of 
united  and  combined  action,  the  alliance  was  gone  ;  and  he  did 
not  believe  in  the  chimera  of  their  crusading  against  the  inde 
pendence  of  a  country,  whose  liberation  would  essentially  pro 
mote  all  their  respective  interests. 

But  the  question  of  the  interposition  of  the  allies,  in  the  event 
of  our  recognizing  the  new  republic,  resolved  itself  into  a  ques 
tion  whether  England,  in  such  event,  would  make  war  upon  us : 
if  it  could  be  shown  that  England  would  not,  it  resulted  either 
that  the  other  allies  would  not,  or  that,  if  they  should,  in  which  case 
England  would  most  probably  support  the  cause  of  America,  it 
would  be  a  war  without  the  maritime  ability  to  maintain  it.  He 
contended  that  England  was  alike  restrained  by  her  honor  and 
by  her  interest  from  waging  war  against  us,  and  consequently 
against  Spanish  America,  also  for  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
independence  of  the  new  state.  England  has  encouraged  and 
fomented  the  re  volt  of  the  colonies  as  early  as  June,  1797.  Sir 
Thomas  Picton,  governor  of  Trinidad,  in  virtue  of  orders  from 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA.      83 

the  British  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  issued  a  proclamation,  in 
which  he  expressly  assures  the  inhabitants  of  Terra  Firma,  that  the 
British  government  will  aid  in  establishing  their  independence.* 
In  the  prosecution  of  the  same  object,  Great  Britain  defrayed 
the  expenses  of  the  famous  expedition  of  Miranda.  England,  in 
1811,  when  she  was  in  the  most  intimate  relations  with  Spain, 
then  struggling  against  the  French  power,  assumed  the  attitude 
of  a  mediator  between  the  colonies  and  the  peninsula.  The 
terms  on  which  she  conceived  her  mediation  could  alone  be 
effectual  were  rejected  by  the  Cortes,  at  the  lowest  state  of  the 
Spanish  power.  Among  these  terms,  England  required  for  the 
colonies  a  perfect  freedom  of  commerce,  allowing  only  some 
degree  of  preference  to  Spain  ;  that  the  appointments  of  viceroys 
and  governors  should  be  made  indiscriminately  from  Spanish 
Americans  and  Spaniards ;  and  that  the  interior  government, 
arid  every  branch  of  public  administration,  should  be  entrusted 
to  the  cabildo,  or  municipalities,  &c.  If  Spain,  when  Spain  was 
almost  reduced  to  the  island  of  St.  Leon,  then  rejected  those  con 
ditions,  would  she  now  consent  to  them,  amounting,  as  they  do, 
substantially,  to  the  independence  of  Spanish  America?  If 
England,  devoted  as  she  was  at  that  time  to  the  cause  of  the  Pe 
ninsula,  even  then  thought  those  terms  due  to  the  colonies,  would 
she  now,  when  no  particular  motive  existed  for  cherishing  the 
Spanish  power,  and  after  the  ingratitude  with  which  Spain  has 
treated  her,  think  that  the  colonies  ought  to  submit  to  less 
favorable  conditions  ?  And  would  not  England  stand  disgraced 
in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  world,  if,  after  having  abetted  and  ex 
cited  a  revolution,  she  should  now  attempt  to  reduce  the  colonies 
to  unconditional  submission,  or  should  make  war  upon  us  for  ac 
knowledging  that  independence  which  she  herself  sought  to 
establish  ? 

No  guarantee  for  the  conduct  of  nations  or  individuals  ought  to 
be  stronger  than  that  which  honor  imposes  ;  but  for  those  who 
would  put  no  confidence  in  its  obligations,  he  had  an  argument 
to  urge  of  more  conclusive  force.  It  was  founded  upon  the  in 
terests  of  England.  Excluded  almost  as  she  is  from  the  conti 
nent,  the  commerce  of  America,  south  and  north,  is  worth  to  her 
more  than  the  commerce  of  the  residue  of  the  world.  That  to 
all  Spanish  America,  had  been  alone  estimated  at  fifteen  millions 
sterling.  Its  aggregate  value  to  Spanish  America  and  the 
United  States,  might  be  fairly  stated  at  upwards  of  one  hun 
dred  millions  of  dollars.  The  effect  of  a  war  with  the  two  coun 
tries  would  be  to  divest  England  of  this  great  interest,  at  a  mo 
ment  when  she  is  anxiously  engaged  in  repairing  the  ravages  of 

»  The  following  is  tho  passage  read  : 

*  With  regard  to  the  hope  you  entertain  of  raising  the  spirits  of  those  persons  with 
whom  you  are  in  correspondence,  towards  encouraging  the  inhabitants  to  resist  th« 
oppressive  authority  of  their  government,  I  have  little  more  to  say  than  that  they  may 
be  certain  that  whenever  they  are  m  that,  disposition,  they  may  receive  at  your  hands, 
all  tho  succors  to  be  expected  from  his  Britannic  Majesty,  be  it  with  forces  or  with 
arms  and  ammunition  to  any  extent;  with  the  assurance  that  the  views  of  his  BriU 
aanicMajesty  go  no  further  thnn  to  secure  to  them  their  independence,"  &c. 


84      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA. 

the  European  war.  Looking  to  the  present  moment  onty,  and 
merely  to  the  interests  of  commerce,  England  is  concerned  more 
than  even  this  country  in  the  success  of  the  cause  of  independence 
in  Spanish  America.  The  reduction  of  the  Spanish  power  in 
America  has  been  the  constant  and  favorite  aim  of  her  policy  for 
two  centuries — she  must  blot  out  her  whole  history,  reverse  the 
maxims  of  all  her  illustrious  statesmen ;  extinguish  the  spirit  of 
commerce  which  animates,  directs  and  controls  all  her  move 
ments,  before  she  can  render  herself  accessary  to  the  subjuga 
tion  of  Spanish  America.  No  commercial  advantages  which 
Spain  might  offer  by  treaty,  could  possess  the  security  for  her 
trade,  which  independence  would  communicate.  The  one 
would  be  most  probably  of  limited  duration,  and  liable  to  viola 
tion  from  policy,  from  interest  or  from  caprice.  The  other  would 
be  as  permanent  as  independence.  That  he  did  not  mistake  the 
views  of  the  British  cabinet,  the  recent  proclamation  of  the 
prince  regent  he  thought  proved. — The  committee  would  remark 
that  that  document  did  not  describe  the  patriots  as  rebels  or  in 
surgents,  but,  using  a  term  which  he  had  no  doubt  had  been  well 
weighed,  it  declared  the  existence  of  a  "  state  of  warfare."  And 
with  regard  to  English  subjects,  who  were  in  the  armies  of 
Spain,  although  they  had  entered  the  service  without  restriction 
as  to  their  military  duties,  it  required  that  they  should  not  take 
part  against  the  colonies.  The  subjects  of  England  freely  sup 
plied  the  patriots  with  arms  and  ammunition,  and  an  honorable 
friend  of  his  (Col.  Johnson,)  had  just  received  a  letter  from  one 
of  the  West  India  islands,  stating  the  arrival  there  from  England 
of  the  skeletons  of  three  regiments,  with  many  of  the  men  to  fill 
them,  destined  to  aid  the  patriots.  In  the  Quarterly  Review  of 
November  last,  a  journal  devoted  to  the  ministry,  and  a  work  of 
the  highest  authority,  as  it  respects  their  views — the  policy  of 
neutrality  is  declared  and  supported  as  the  true  policy  of  Eng 
land  ;  and  that,  even  if  the  United  States  were  to  take  part  in  the 
war ;  and  Spain  is  expressly  notified  that  she  cannot  and  must 
not  expect  aid  from  England.*  In  the  case  of  the  struggle  be- 

*  "  In  arguing  therefore  for  the  advantages  of  a  strict  neutrality,  we  must  enter  an 
early  protest  against  any  imputations  of  hostility  to  the  cause  of  genuine  freedom,  or  of 
any  passion  for  despotism  and  the  Inquisition.  We  are  no  more  the  panegyrists  of 
legitimate  authority  in  all  times,  circumstances,  and  situations,  than  we  are  advo 
cates  for  revolution  in  the  abstract,"  &c.  "  But  it  has  been  plausibly  asserted,  that  by 
abstaining  from  interference  in  the  affairs  of  South  America  we  are  surrendering  to 
the  United  States  all  the  advantages  which  might  be  secured  to  ourselves  from  this 
revolution;  that  we  are  assisting  to  increase  the  trade  and  power  of  a  nation  which 
alone  can  ever  be  the  maritime  rival  of  England.  It  appears  to  us  extremely  doubt 
ful  whether  any  advantage,  commercial  or  political,  can  be  lost  to  England  by  a 
neutral  conduct;  it  must  be  observed  that  the  United  States  themselves  have  given 
every  public  proof  of  their  intention  to  pursue  the  same  line  of  policy.  But  admit 
ting  that  this  conduct  is  nothing  more  than  a  decent  pretext;  or  admitting  still  far 
ther,  that  they  will  afford  to  the- Independents  direct  and  open  assistance,  our  view  of 
the  case  would  remain  precisely  the  same,"  &c.  "  To  persevere  in  force,  unaided,  is 
to  miscalculate  her  (Spain's)  own  resources,  even  to  infatuation.  To  expect  the  aid  of 
anally  in  such  a  cause  would,  if  that  ally  were  England,  be  lo  suppose  this  country 
as  forgetful  of  its  own  past  history  as  of  its  immediate'interests  and  duties.  Far  better 
would  it  be  for  Spain,  instead  of  calling  for  our  aid,  to  profit  by  our  experience;  and  to 


ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA.      85 

tween  Spain  and  her  colonies,!JSngland,  for  once  at  least,  had 
manifested  a  degree  of  wisdom  highly  deserving  our  imitation, 
but  unfortunately  the  very  reverse  of  her  course  had  been  pur 
sued  by  us.  She  had  so  conducted,  by  operating  upon  the  hopes 
of  the  two  parties,  as  to  keep  on  the  best  terms  with  both— to 
enjoy  all  the  advantages  of  the  rich  commerce  of  both.  We 
had,  by  a  neutrality  bill  containing  unprecedented  features ;  and 
still  more  by  a  late  executive  measure,  to  say  the  least  of  it  of 
doubtful  constitutional  character,  contrived  to  dissatisfy  both 
parties.  We  had  the  confidence  neither  of  Spain  nor  the  colo 
nies. 

Mr.  Clay  said,  it  remained  for  him  to  defend  the  proposition 
which  he  meant  to  submit,  from  an  objection,  which  he  had 
heard  intimated,  that  it  interfered  with  the  duties  assigned  to  the 
executive  branch.  On  this  subject  he  felt  the  greatest  solicita 
tion  ;  for  no  man  more  than  himself  respected  the  preservation 
of  the  independence  of  the  several  departments  of  government, 
in  the  constitutional  orbits  which  were  prescribed  to  them.  It 
was  his  favorite  maxim,  that  each,  acting  within  its  proper 
sphere,  should  move  with  its  constitutional  independence,  and 
under  its  constitutional  responsibility,  without  influence  from  any 
other.  He  was  perfectly  aware  that  the  constitution  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  and  he  admitted  the  proposition  in  its  broadest  sense, 
confided  to  the  executive  the  reception  and  the  deputation  of 
ministers.  But,  in  relation  to  the  latter  operation,  Congress  had 
concurrent  will,  in  the  power  of  providing  for  the  payment  of  their 
salaries.  The  instrument  no  where  said  or  implied  that  the 
executive  act  of  sending  a  minister  to  a  foreign  country  should 
precede  the  legislative  act  which  shall  provide  for  the  payment 
of  his  salary.  And.  in  point  of  fact,  our  statutory  code  was  full 
of  examples  of  legislative  action  prior  to  executive  action,  both 
in  relation  to  the  deputation  of  agents  abroad,  and  to  the  subject- 
matter  of  treaties.  Perhaps  the  act  of  sending  a  minister 
abroad,  and  the  act  providing  for  the  allowance  of  his  salary, 
ought  to  be  simultaneous;  but  if,  in  the  order  of  precedence, 
there  were  more  reason  on  the  one  side  than  on  the  other,  he 
thought  it  was  in  favor  of  the  priority  of  the  legislative  act,  as 
the  safer  depository  of  power.  When  a  minister  is  sent  abroad, 
although  the  Legislature  may  be  disposed  to  think  his  mission 
useless — although,  if  previously  consulted,  they  would  have  said 
they  would  not  consent  to  pay  such  a  minister,  the  duty  is  deli 
cate  and  painful  to  refuse  to  pay  the  salary  promised  to  him 
whom  the  executive  has  even  unnecessarily  sent  abroad.  Mr. 
C.  illustrated  his  ideas  by  the  existing  missions  to  Sweden  and 
to  the  Netherlands.  He  had  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  if  we 
had  not  ministers  of  the  first  grade  there,  and  if  the  Legislature 

substitute  ere  it  be  too  late,  for  efforts  like  those  by  which  the  North  Amercian  colonies 
were  lost  to  this  country,  the  conciliatory  measure*  by  which  they  might  have  been 
retained." 
8 


S6      ON  THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  S.  AMERICA. 

were  asked,  prior  to  sending  them,  whether  it  would  consent  to 
pay  ministers  of  that  grade,  that  he  would  not,  and  he  believed 
Congress  would  not,  consent  to  pay  them. 

If  it  be  urged  that,  by  avowing  our  willingness,  in  a  legisla 
tive  act,  to  pay  a  minister  not  yet  sent,  and  whom  the  President 
may  think  it  improper  to  send  abroad,  we  operate  upon  the 
President  by  all  the  force  of  our  opip.'-on;  it  may  be  retorted  that 
when  we  arc  called  upon  to  pay  any  minister,  sent  under  simi 
lar  circumstances,  we  are  operated  upon  by  all  the  force  of  the 
President's  opinion.  The  true  theory  of  our  government  at 
least  supposes  that  each  of  the  two  departments,  acting  on  its 
•proper  constitutional  responsibility,  will  decide  according  to  its 
best  judgment,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  If  we 
make  the  previous  appropriation,  we  act  upon  our  constitutional 
responsibility,  and  the  President  afterwards  will  proceed  upon 
his.  And  so  if  he  make  the  previous  appointment.  We  have 
a  right,  after  a  minister  is  sent  abroad,  and  we  are  called  upon 
to  pay  him,  and  we  ought  to  deliberate  upon  the  propriety  of 
his  mission — we  may  and  ought  to  grant  or  withhold  his  salary. 
If  this  power  of  deliberation  is  conceded  subsequent  to  the  depu 
tation  of  the  minister,  it  must  exist  prior  to  that  deputation.— 
Whenever  we  deliberate,  we  deliberate  under  our  constitutional 
responsibility.  Pass  the  amendment  he  proposed,  and  it  would 
be  passed  under  that  responsibility.  Then  the  President,  when 
he  deliberated  on  the  propriety  of  the  mission,  would  act  under 
his  constitutional  responsibility.  Each  branch  of  government, 
moving  in  its  proper  sphere,  would  act  with  as  much  freedom 
from  the  influence  of  the  other  as  was  practically  attainable. 

There  was  great  reason,  Mr.  Clay  contended,  from  the  pecu 
liar  character  of  the  American  government,  in  there  being  a 
perfect  understanding  between  the  legislative  and  executive 
branches,  in  relation  to  the  acknowledgment  of  a  new  power. 
Every  where  else  the  power  of  declaring  war  resided  with  the 
executive.  Here  it  was  deposited  with  the  legislature.  If,  con 
trary  to  his  opinion,  there  were  even  a  risk  that  the  acknow 
ledgment  of  a  now  state  might  lead  to  war,  it  was  advisable 
that  the  step  should  not  be  taken  without  a  previous  knowledge 
of  the  will  of  the  war-making  branch.  He  was  disposed  to  give 
to  the  President  all  the  confidence  which  he  must  derive  from 
the  unequivocal  expression  of  our  will.  This  expression  he 
knew  might  be  given  in  the  form  of  an  abstract  resolution,  de 
claratory  of  that  will;  but  he  preferred  at  this  time  proposing  an 
act  of  practical  legislation.  And  if  he  had  been  so  fortunate  as 
to  communicate  to  the  committee,  in  any  thing  like  that  degree 
of  strength  in  which  he  entertained  them,  the  convictions  that 
the  cause  of  the  patriots  was  just — that  the  character  of  1he 
war,  as  waged  by  Spain,  should  induce  us  to  wish  them  suc 
cess;  that  we  had  a  great  interest  in  that  success;  that  this  in 
terest,  as  well  as  our  neutral  attitude,  required  us  to  acknowledge 
any  established  government  in  Spanish  America ;  that  the  Uni- 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.  87 

ted  Provinces  of  the  River  Plate  was  such  a  government ;  that 
we  might  safely  acknowledge  its  independence,  without  danger 
of  war  from  Spain,  from  the  allies,  or  from  England ;  and  that, 
without  unconstitutional  interference  with  the  executive  power, 
with  peculiar  fitness,  we  might  express,  in  an  act  of  appropria 
tion,  our  sentiments,  leaving  him  to  the  exercise  of  a  just  and 
responsible  discretion.  He  hoped  the  committee  would  adopt  the 
proposition  which  he  had  now  the  honor  of  presenting  to  them, 
after  a  respectful  tender  of  his  acknowledgments  for  their  atten 
tion  and  kindness,  during,  he  feared,  the  tedious  period  he  had 
been  so  unprofitably  trespassing  upon  their  patience.  He  offered 
the  following  amendment  to  the  bill: 

"For  one  year's  salary,  and  an  outfit  to  a  minister  to  the 
United  Provinces  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  the  salary  to  com 
mence,  and  the  outfit  to  be  paid,  whenever  the  President  shall 
deem  it  expedient  to  send  a  minister  to  the  said  United  Provin 
ces,  a  sum  not  exceeding  eighteen  thousand  dollars." 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. 

Speech  on  the  Seminole  War,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  January  1819. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  : 

In  rising  to  address  you,  sir,  on  the  very  interesting  subject 
which  now  engages  the  attention  of  Congress,  I  must  be  allowed 
to  say,  that  all  inferences  drawn  from  the  course,  which  it  will  be 
my  painful  duty  to  take  in  this  discussion,  of  unfriendliness  either 
to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  country,  or  to  the  illustrious  military 
chieftain,  whose  operations  are  under  investigation,  will  be  whol 
ly  unfounded.  Towards  that  distinguished  captain,  who  shed  so 
much  glory  on  our  country,  whose  renown  constitutes  so  great  a 
portion  of  its  moral  property,  I  never  had,  I  never  can  have  any 
other  feelings  than  those  of  the  most  profound  respect,  and  of 
the  utmost  kindness.  With  him  my  acquaintance  is  very  limited, 
but,  so  far  as  it  has  extended,  it  has  been  of  the  most  amicable 
kind.  I  know,  said  Mr.  C.  the  motives  which  have  been,  and 
which  will  again  be  attributed  to  me,  in  regard  to  the  other  ex-  ,t 
alted  personage  alluded  to.  They  have  been  and  will  be  un 
founded.  I  have  no  interest,  other  than  that  of  seeing  the  con 
cerns  of  my  country  well  and  happily  administered.  It  is  infin 
itely  more  gratifying  to  behold  the  prosperity  of  my  country  ad 
vancing  by  the  wisdom  of  the  measures  adopted  to  promote  it, 
than  it  would  be  to  expose  the  errors  which  may  be  committed, 
if  there  be  any,  in  the  conduct  of  its  affairs.  Mr.  C.  said,  little  as 
had  been  his  experience  in  pnblic  life,  it  had  been  sufficient  to 
teach  him  that  the  most  humble  station  is  surrounded  by  difficul- 


88  ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. 

ties  and  embarrassments.  Rather  than  throw  obstructions  in  the 
way  of  the  president,  he  would  precede  him,  and  pick  out'  those, 
if  he  could,  which  might  jostle  him  in  his  progress — he  would 
•sympathize  with  him  in  his  embarrassments  and  commisserate 
with  him  in  his  misfortunes.  It  was  true,  that  it  had  been  his 
mortification  to  differ  with  that  gentleman  on  several  occasions. 
He  might  be  again  reluctantly  compelled  to  differ  with  him ;  but 
he  would  with  the  utmost  sincerity  assure  the  committee  that  he 
had  formed  no  resolution,  come  under  no  engagements,  arid  that 
he  never  would  form  any  resolution,  or  contract  any  engagements, 
for  systematic  opposition  to  his  administration,  or  to  that  of  any 
other  chief  magistrate. 

Mr.  Clay  begged  leave  further  to  premise  that  the  subject 
under  consideration,  presented  two  distinct  aspects,  susceptible, 
in  his  judgment,  of  the  most  clear  and  precise  discrimination. 
The  one  he  would  call  its  foreign,  the  other  its  domestic  aspect. 
In  regard  to  the  first,  he  would  say,  that  he  approved  entirely  of 
the  conduct  of  his  government,  and  that  Spain  had  no  cause  of 
complaint.  Having  violated  an  important  stipulation  of  the 
treaty  of  1795,  that  power  had  justly  subjected  herself  to  all  the 
consequences  which  ensued  upon  the  entry  into  her  dominions, 
and  it  belonged  not  to  her  to  complain  of  those  measures  which 
resulted  from  her  breach  of  contract;  still  less  had  she  a- right  to 
examine  into  the  considerations  connected  with  the  domestic 
aspect  of  the  subject. 

What  were  the  propositions  before  the  committee  ?  The  first 
in  order  was  that  reported  by  the  military  committee,  which 
asserts  the  disapprobation  of  this  House,  of  the  proceedings  in 
the  trial  and  execution  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister.  The  second, 
being  the  first  contained  in  the  proposed  ammendment,  was  the 
consequence  of  that  disapprobation,  and  contemplates  the  pas 
sage  of  a  law  to  prohibit  the  execution  hereafter,  of  any  captive, 
taken  by  the  army,  without  the  approbation  of  the  president 
The  third  proposition  was,  that  this  house  disapproves  of  the 
forcible  seizure  of  the  Spanish  posts,  as  contrary  to  orders,  and 
in  violation  of  the  constitution.  The  fourth  proposition,  as  the 
result  of  the  last,  is,  that  a  law  should  pass  to  prohibit  the  march 
of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  or  any  corps  of  it,  into  any 
foreign  territory,  without  the  previous  authorization  of  Congress, 
except  it  be  in  fresh  pursuit  of  a  defeated  enemy.  The  first  and 
third  were  general  propositions,  declaring  the  sense  of- the  House 
in  regard  to  the  evils  pointed  out,  and  the  second  and  fourth 
Deposed  the  legislative  remedies  against  the  recurrence  of  those 
evils. 

It  would  be  at  once  perceived,  Mr.  C.  said,  by  this  simple 
statement  of  the  propositions,  that  no  other  censure  was  proposed 
against  General  Jackson  himself,  than  what  was  merely  conse 
quential.  His  name  even  did  not  appear  in  any  one  of  the  re 
solutions.  The  legislature  of  the  country,  in  reviewing  the  state 
of  the  Union,  and  considering  the  events  which  have  transpired 


ON  THE  SEM1NOLE  WAR.  89 

since  its  last  meeting,  finds  that  particular  occurrences,  of  the 
greatest  moment,  in  many  respects,  had  taken  place  near  our 
southern  border.  He  would  add,  that  the  House  had  not  sought, 
by  any  officious  interference  with  the  duties  of  the  executive,  to 
gain  jurisdiction  over  this  matter.  The  president,  in  his  message 
at  the  opening  of  the  session,  communicated  the  very  informa 
tion  on  which  it  was  proposed  to  act.  He  would  ask,  for  what 
purpose  ?  That  we  should  fold  our  arms  and  yield  a  tacit  ac 
quiescence,  even  if  we  supposed  that  information  disclosed 
alarming  events,  not  merely  as  it  regards  the  peace  of.  the  coun 
try,  but  in  respect  to  its  constitution  and  character  ?  Impossible. 
In  communicating  these  papers,  and  voluntarily  calling  the  at 
tention,  of  Congress  to  the  subject,  the  president  rr.ust  himself 
have  intended  that  we  should  apply  any  remedy  that  we  might 
be  able'  to  devise.  Having  the  subject  thus  regularly  and  fairly 
before  us,  and  proposing  merely  to  collect  the  sense  of  the  House 
upon  certain  important  transactions  which  it  discloses,  with  the 
view  to  tjie  passage  of  such  laws  as  may  be  demanded  by  the 
public  interest,  he  repeated,  that  there  was  no  censure  any  where, 
except  such  as  was  strictly  consequential  upon  our  legislative 
action.  The  supposition  of  every  new  law,  having  for  its  object 
to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  evil,  is,  that  something  has  happened 
which  ought  not  to  have  taken  place,  and  no  other  than  this  in 
direct  sort  of  censure  would  flow  from  the  resolutions  before  the 
committee. 

Having  thus  given  his  view  of  the  nature  and  character  of 
the  propositions  under  consideration,  Mr.  C.  said  he  was  far  from 
intimating,  that  it  was  not  his  purpose  to  go  into  a  full,  a  free,  arid  a 
thorough  investigation  of  the  facts,  and  of  the  principles  of  law, 
.public,  municipal,  and  constitutional,  involved  in  them.  And, 
whilst  he  trusted-  he  should  speak  with  the  decorum  due  to  the 
distinguished  officers  of  the  government,  whose  proceedings 
were  to  be  examined,  he  should  exercise  the  independence  which 
belonged  to  him  as  a  representative  of  the  people,  in  freely  and 
fully  submitting  his  sentiments. 

In  noticing  the  painful  incidents  of  this  war,  it  was  impossible 
not  to  inquire  into  its  origin.  He  feared  that  it  would  be  found 
to  be  the  famous  treaty  of  Fort  Jackson,  concluded  in  August, 
1814;  and  he  asked  the  indulgence  of  the  chairman,  that  the 
clerk  might  read  certain  parts  of  that  treaty.  (The  clerk  having 
read  as  requested,  Mr.  C.  proceeded.)  He  had  never  perused 
this  instrument  until  within  a  few  days  past,  and  he  had  read  it 
with  the  deepest  mortification  and  regret  A  more  dictatorial 

r'  it  he  had  never  seen  displayed  in  any  instrument.  He  would 
llenge  an  examination  of  all  the  records  of  diplomacy,  not 
excepting  even  those  in  the  most  haughty  period  of  imperial 
Rome,  when  she  was  carrying  her  arms  into  the  barbarian  na 
tions  that  surrounded  her,  and  he  did  not  believe  a  solitary  in 
stance  could  be  found  of  such  an  inexorable  spirit  of  domination 


90  ON  THE  SEMIJVOLE  WAR. 

pervading  a  compact  purporting  to  be  a  treaty  of  peace.  !t 
consisted  of  the  most  severe  and  humiliating  demands — of  the 
surrender  of  a  large  territory — of  the  privilege  of  making  roads 
through  the  remnant  which  was  retained — of  the  right  of  es 
tablishing  trading  houses — of  the  obligation  of  delivering  into 
our  hands  their  prophets.  And  all  this  of  a  wretched  people 
reduced  to  the  last  extremity  of  distress,  whose  miserable  exis 
tence  we  had  to  preserve  by  a  voluntary  stipulation,  to  furnish 
them  with  bread !  When  did  the  all-conquering  and  desolating 
Rome  ever  fail  to  respect  the  altars  and  the  gods  of  those  whom 
she  subjugated !  Let  me  not  be  told  that  these  prophets  were 
impostors,  who  deceived  the  Indians.  They  were  their  proph 
ets — the  Indians  believed  and  venerated  them,  and  it  is  not  for 
us  to  dictate  a  religious  belief  to  them.  It  does  not  belong  to 
the  holy  character  of  the  religion  which  we  profess,  to  carry  its 
precepts,  by  the  force  of  the  bayonet,  into  the  bosoms  of  other 
people.  Mild  and  gentle  persuasion  was  the  great  instrument 
employed  by  the  meek  Founder  of  our  religion.  We  leave  to 
the  humane  and  benevolent  efforts  of  the  reverend  professors  of 
Christianity  to  convert  from  barbarism  those  unhappy  nations 
yet  immersed  in  its  gloom.  But,  sir,  spare  them  their  prophets ! 
spare  their  delusions !  spare-  their  prejudices  and  superstitions ! 
spare  them  even  their  religion,  such  as  it  is,  from  open  and  cruel 
violence.  When,  sir,  Avas  that  treaty  concluded  ?  On  the  .very 
day,  after  the  protocol  was  signed,  of  the  first  conference  be 
tween  the  American  and  British  commissioners,  treating  of  peace, 
at  Ghent.  In  the  course  of  that  negotiation,  pretensions  so 
enprmous  were  set  up,  by  the  other  party,  that,  when  they  were 
promulgated  in  this  country,  there  was  one  general  burst  of  in 
dignation  throughout  the  continent.  Faction  itself  was  silenced, 
and  the  firm,  and  unanimous  determination  of  all  parties  was," 
to  fight  until  the  last  man  fell  in  the  ditch,  rather  than  submit  to 
such  ignominious  terms.  What  a  contrast  is  exhibited  between 
the  contemporaneous  scenes  of  Ghent  and  of  Fort  Jackson! 
what  a  powerful  voucher  would  the  British  commissioners  have 
been  furnished  with,  if  they  could  have  got  hold  of  that  treaty! 
The  United  States  demand,  the  United  States  demand,  is  repeat 
ed  five  or  six  times.  And  what  did  the  preamble  itself  disclose? 
That  two-thirds  of  the  Creek  nation  haid  been  hostile,  and  one- 
third  only  friendly  to  us.  Now  he  had  heard,  (he  could  not 
vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  statement,)  that  not  one'  hostile  chief 
signed  the  treaty.  He  had  also  heard  that  perhaps  one  or  two 
of  them  had.  If  the  treaty  were  really  made  by  a  minority  of 
the  nation,  it  was  not  obligatory  upon  the  whole  nation.  It  was 
roid,  considered  in  the  light  of  a  national  compact.  And,  if  void, 
the  Indians  were  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  the  provision  of  the 
ninth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  by  which  we  bound  our 
selves  to  make  peace  with  any  tribes  with  whom  we  might  be 
at  war  on  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  to  restore  to  them 
their  lands,  as  they  held  them  in  1811.  Mr.  C.  said  he  did  not 


QN  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.      ;V  ;        91 

know  how  the  honorable  Senate,  that  body  for  which  he  held  so 
high  a  respect,  could  have  given  their  sanction  to  the  treaty 
of  Fort  Jackson,  so  utterly  irreconcileable  as  it  is  with  those 
noble  principles  of  generosity  and  magnanimity  which  he  hoped 
to  see  his  country  always  exhibit,  and  particularly  toward  the 
miserable  remnant  of  the  Aborigines.  It  would  have  comported 
better  with  those  principles,  to  have  imitated  the  benevolent 
policy  of  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  have  given  to  the 
Creeks,  conquered  as  they  were,  even  if  they  had  made  an  unjust 
war  upon  us,  the  trifling  consideration,  to  them  an  adequate 
compensation,  which  he  paid  for  their  lands.  That  treaty,  Mr. 
C.  said,  he  feared,  had  been  the  main  cause  of  the  recent  war. 
And,  if  it  had  been,  it  only  added  another  melancholy  proof  to 
those  with  which  history  already  abounds,  jlhat  hard  and  un 
conscionable  terms,  extorted  by  the  power  of  the  sword  and  the 
right  of  conquest,  served  but  to  whet  and  stimulate  revenge,  and 
to  give  to  old  hostilities,  smothered,  not  extinguished,  by  the  pre 
tended  peace,  greater  exasperation  and  more  ferocity.  A  .truce, 
thus  patched  up  with  an  unfortunate  people,  without  the  means  of 
existence,  without  bread,  is  no  real  peace.  The  instant  there  is 
the  slightest  prospect  of  relief  from  such  harsh  and  severe  con 
ditions,  the  conquered  party  will  fly  to  arms,  and  spend  the  last 
drop  of  blood  rather  than  live  in  such  degraded  bondage.  Even 
if  you  again  reduce  him  to  submission,  the  expenses  incurred  by 
this  second  war,  to  say  nothing  of  the  human  lives  that  are 
sacrificed,  will  be  greater  than  what  it  would  have  cost  you  to 
have  granted  him  liberal  conditions  in  the  first  instance.  This 
treaty,  he  repeated  it,  wasr  he  apprehended,  the  cause  of  the 
war,  It  led  to  those  excesses  on  our  southern  borders  which 
began  it  Who  first  commenced  them,  it  was  perhaps  difficult  to 
ascertain.  There  was,  however,  a  paper  on  this  subject,  com 
municated  at  the  last  session  by  the  President,  that  told,  in  lan 
guage  pathetic  and  feeling,  an  artless  tale — a  paper  that  carried 
such  internal  evidence,  at  least,  of  the  belief  of  the  authors  of  it 
that  they  were  writing  the  truth,  that  he  would  ask  the  favor  of 
the  committee  to  allow  him  to  read  it*  I  should  be  very  un- 

*  The  following  is  the  letter  from  ten  of  the  Seminole  towns,  which  Mr.  C.  read : 

To  the  Commanding  Officer  at  Fort  Hawkins : 
DEAR  SIK, 

Since  the  last  war,  after  you  sent  word  th  it  we  must  quit  the  war,  we,  the  red 
people,  have  come  over  on  this  siile.  The  white  people  hare  carried  all  the  red 
people's  cattle  off.  After  the  war,  I  sent  to  all  my  people  to  let  the  white  people 
alone,  and  stay  on  this  side  of  the  river;  and  they  did  so:  but  the  white  people  stili 
continue  to  carry  off  i heir  cattle.  Bernard's  sun  was  here,  and  I  inquired  of  him 
what  was  to  be  done— and  he  said  we  must  go  to  the  head  man  of  the  white  people, 
and  complain.  I  did  so,  and  there  was  no  head  white  man,  and  there  was  no  law 
in  this  case.  The  whites  first  bep;an,  and  there  is  nothing  said  about  that;  but 
great  complaint  about  what  the  Indians  do.  This  is  now  three  years  since  the 
white  people  killed  three  Indians— since  that  they  have  killed  three  other  Indians, 
and  taken  their  horses,  and  what  they  had;  and  this  summer  they  killed  three  more; 
and  very  lately  they  killed  one  more.  We  sent  word  to  the  white  people  that  these 
murders  were  done,  and  the  answer  was,  that  they  were  people  that  were  outlaws,  and 
we  ought  to  go  and  kill  them.  The  white  people  killed  our  people  first;  the  Indians 
then  took  satisfaction.  There  are  yet  three  men  that  the  red  people  have  never  taken 
satisfaction  for.  You  have  wrote  tha;  there  were  houses  burnt;  but  we  know  ef  no 


92     .   ;  '.         ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. 

willing,  Mr.  C.  said,  to  assert,  in  regard  to  this  war,  that  the 
fault  was  on  our  side;  but  he  feared  it  was.     He  had  heard  that 
a  very  respectable  gentleman,  now  no  more,  who  once  filled  the 
executive  chair  of  Georgia,  and  who,  having  been  agent  of  In 
dian  affairs  in  that  quarter,  had  the  best  opportunity  of  judging 
of  the  origin  of  this  war,  deliberately  pronounce  it  as  his  opinion 
that  the  Indians  were  not  in  fault.     Mr.  C.  said,  that  he  was  far 
from  attributing  to  General  Jackson  any  other  than  the  very 
slight  degree  of  blame  which  attached  to  him  as  the  negotiator 
of  the  treaty  of  Fort  Jackson,  and  which  would  be  shared  by 
those  who  subsequently  ratified  and  sanctioned  that  treaty.    But 
if  there  were  even  a  doubt  as  to  the  origin  of  the  war,  whether 
we  were  censurable  or  the  Indians,  that  doubt  would  serve  to 
increase  our  regret  at  any  distressing  incidents  which  may  '-ave 
occurred,  and  to  mitigate,  .in  some  degree,  tlje  -crimes  which  we 
impute  to  the  other  side.     He  knew,  he  said,  that  when  General' 
Jackson  was  summoned  to  the  field,  it  was  too  late  to  hesitate — 
the  fatal  blow  had  been  struck,  in  the  destruction  of  Fowl-town, 
and  the  dreadful  massacre,  of  Lieutenant  Scott  and  his  detach 
ment;  and  the  only  duty  which  remained  to  him,  was  to  termi 
nate  this  unhappy  contest. 

The  first  circumstance  which,  in  the  course  of  his  performing 
that  duty,  fixed  our  attention,  had,  Mr.  C.  said,  filled  him  with 
regret.  It  was  the  execution  of  the  Indian  chiefs.  .  How,  he 
risked,  did  they  come  into  our  possession  ?  Was  it  in  the  course 
o/  fair,  and  open,  and  honorable  war  ?  No,  but  by  means  of  de 
ception— by  hoisting  foreign  colors  on  the  staff  from  which  the 

•   •  ^"      *  A    i   •'   .  ^1  !•    * '  ~\*  fc 

such  thing  being  done:  the  truth  in  such. cases  ought  to  be  told,  but  this  appears 
otherwise.  On  that  side  of  the  river,  the  white  people  have  killed  five  Indians;  but 
there  is  nothing  said  about  that;  and  all  that  the  Indians  have  done  is  brought  up. 
All  the  mischief  the  white  people  hare  done,  ought  to  be  told  to  their  head  man.- 
When  there  is  any  thing  done,  you  write  to  us;  but  never  write  to  your  head  man 
what  the  white  people  do.  When  the  red  people  sQnd  talks,  or  write,  they  always 
f-end  the  truth.  You  have  sent  to  us  for  your  horses,  and  we  sent  all  that  we  could 
find;  but  there  were  some  dead.  It  appears  that  all,  the  mischief  is  laid  on  this 
'  town ;  but  all  the  mischief  that  has  been  done  by  this  town  is  two  horses ;  one  of 
them  fs  dead,  and  the  other  was  sent  back.  The  cattle  that  we  are  accused  of  taking 
wore  cattle  that  ihe  white  people  took'from  us.  Our  young  men  went  and  brought 
Them  back,  with  the  same  marks  ami  brands.  There  were  some  of  our  young  men  out 
hnnting,  and  they  \vere  killed;  others  went  to  take  satisfaction,  and  the  kettle  of  one 
c<f  the  men  that  .was  killed  was  found  in  the  house  where  the  woman  and  two  chil 
dren  were  killed ;  and  they  supposed  ft  had  been  her  husband  who  had  killed  the  In 
dians,  and  took  their  satisfaction  there.  We  are  accused  of  killing  the  Americans, 
*nJ  so  en ;  but  since  the  word  was  sent  to  us  that  peace  was  made,  we  stay  steady 
at  home,  and  meddle  with  no  person.  You  have  sent  to  vs  respecting  he  L'latK 
people  on  the  Suvvany  river:  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  They  were  put 
there  by  the  English,  and  to  them  you  ought  to  apply  f.r  any  thing  about  them. 
We  do  not  wish  "our  country  desolated  by  an  army  passing  through  it.  for  the  con 
cern  of  other  people.  The  Indians  have  slaves  there  alto;  a  great  many  of  them-. 
When  we  have  an  opportunity  we  shall  apply  to  the  English  for  them,  but  we  cannul 
get  them  now. 
This  is  what  we  have  to  say  at  present. 

Sir,  I  conclude  by  subserving  myself, 

Your  humble  servant,  &c. 
September,  the  llth  day,  1817. 

y.  B.— There  are  ten  towns  have  read  this  letter,  and  this  is  the  answer. 
A  true  copy  of  the  original.  WM.  BELL,  Aid-de-ea»f . 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.  93 

stars  and  stripes  should  alone  have  floated.  Thus  ensnared, 
the  Indians  were  taken  on  shore,  and  without  ceremony,  and 
without  delay,  were  hung.  Hang  an  Indian !  We,  sir,  who  are 
civilized,  and  can  comprehend  and  feel  the  effect  of  moral  cau 
ses  and  considerations,  attach  ignominy  to  that  mode  of  death. 
And  the  gallant,  and  refined,  and  high-minded  man,  seeks  by  all 
possible  means  to  avoid  it.  But  what  cares  an  Indian  whether 
you  hang  or  shoot  him?  The  moment  he  is  captured,  he  is  con 
sidered  by  his  tribe  as  disgraced,  if  not  lost.  They,  too,  are  in 
different  about  the  manner  in  which  he  is  despatched.  But,  Mr. 
C.  said,  he  regarded  the  occurrence  with  grief  for  other  and 
higher  considerations.  It  was  the  first  instance  that  he  knew  of, 
in  the  annals  of  our  country,  in  which  retaliation,  by  executing 
Indian  captives,  had  ever  been  deliberately  practised.  There 
may  have  been  exceptions,  but  if  there  were,  they  met  with  con 
temporaneous  condemnation,  and  have  been  reprehended  by  the 
just  pen  of  impartial  history.  The  gentleman  from  Massachu 
setts  may  tell  me,  if  he  chooses,  what  he  pleases  about  the  toma 
hawk  and  scalping  knife — about  Indian  enormities,  and  foreign 
miscreants  and  incendiaries.  I,  too,  hate  them ;  from  my  very 
s6ul  I  abominate  them.  But,  I  love  my  country,  and  its  consti 
tution  ;  I  love  liberty  and  safety,  and  fear  military  despotism 
more,  even,  than  I  hate  these  monsters.  The  gentleman,  in  the 
course  of  his  remarks,  alluded  to  the  State  from  which  I  have 
the  honor  to  come.  Little,  sir,  does  he  know  of  the  high  and 
magnanimous  sentiments  of  the  people  of  that  State,  if  he  sup 
poses  they  will  approve  of  the  transaction  to  which  he  referred. 
Brave  and  generous,  humanity  and  clemency  towards  a  fallen  foe 
constitute  one  of  their  noblest  characteristics.  Amidst  all  the  strug 
gles  for  that  fair  land  between  the  natives  and  the  present  inhabi 
tants,  Mr.  C.  said,  he  defied  the  gentleman  to  point  out  one  instance 
in  which  a  Kentuckian  had  staned  his  hand  by — nothing  but 
his  high  sense  of  the  distinguished  services  and  exalted  merits 
of  General  Jackson  prevented  his  using  a  different  term — the  ex 
ecution  of  an  unarmed  and  prostrate  captive.  Yes,  said  Mr.  C.. 
there  was  one  solitary  exception,  in  which  a  man,  enraged  at 
beholding  an  Indian  prisoner,  who  had  been  celebrated  for  his 
enormities,  and  who  had  destroyed  some  of  his  kindred,  plunged 
his  sword  into  his  bosom.  The  wicked  deed  was  considered 
as  an  abominable  outrage  when  it  occurred,  and  the  name  of 
the  man  has  been  handed  down  to  the  execration  of  posterity. 
I  deny  your  right,  said  Mr.  C.,  thus  to  retaliate  on  the  aboriginal 
proprietors  of  the  country ;  and  unless  I  am  utterly  deceived,  it 
may  be  shown  that  it.  does  not  exist.  But  before  I  attempt  this, 
allow  me  to  make  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  a  little 
better  acquainted  with  those  people,  to  whose  feelings  and  sym 
pathies  he  has  appealed  through  their  representative.  During  the 
late  war  with  Great  Britain,  Colonel  Campbell,  under  the  com 
mand  of  my  honorable  friend  from  Ohio,  (General  Harrison) 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  detachment  consisting  chiefly;  he 


94  ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. 

believed,  of  Kentucky  volunteers,  in  order  to  destroy 
sinaway  towns.  They  proceeded  and  performed  the  duty,  and 
took  some  prisoners.  And  here  is  evidence  of  the  manner  in 
which  they  treated  them.  (Here  Mr.  C.  read  the  general  orders 
issued  on  the  return  of  the  detachment.)*  I  hope,  sir,  the  hon 
orable  gentleman  will  now  be  able  better  to  appreciate  the  cha 
racter  and  conduct  of  my  gallant  countrymen  than  he  appears 
hitherto  to  have  done. 

But,  sir,  I  have  said  that  you  have  no  right  to  practise  under 
color  of  retaliation,  enormities  on  the  Indians.  I  will  advance 
in  support  of  this  position,  as  applicable  to  the  origin  of  all  law, 
the  principle,  that  whatever  has  been  the  custom,  from  the  com 
mencement  of  a  subject,  whatever  has  been  the  uniform  usage 
co  eval  and  co-existent  with  the  subject  to  which  it  relates,  be 
comes  its  fixed  law.  Such  was  the  foundation  of  all  common 
law ;  and  such,  he  believed,  was  the  principal  foundation  of  all 
public  or  international  law.  If,  then,  it  could  be  shown  that  from 
the  first  settlement  of  the  colonies,  on  this  part  of  the  American 
continent,  to  the  present  time,  we  have  constantly  abstained  from 
retaliating  upon  the  Indians  the  excesses  practised  by  them  to 
wards  us,  wre  were  morally  bound  by  this  invariable  usage,  and 
could  not  lav/fully  change  it  without  the  most  cogent  reasons. 
So.  far  as  his  knowledge  extended,  he  said,  that  from  the  first 
settlement  at  Plymouth  or  at  Jamestown,  it  had  not  been  our 
practice  to  destroy  Indian  captives,  combatants  or  non-combat 
ants.  He  knew  of  but  one  deviation  from  the  code  which  regu 
lated  the  warfare  between  civilized  communities,  and  that  waa 
the  destruction  of  Indian  towns,  which  was  supposed  to  be  au 
thorized  upon  the  ground  that  we  could  not  bring  the  war  to  a 
termination  but  by  destroying  the  means  which  nourished  it. " 
With  this  single  exception,  the  other  principles  of  the  laws  of 
civilized  nations  are  extended  to  them,  and  are  thus  made  law  in 
regard  to  them.  When  did  this  humane  custom,  by  which,  in 
consideration  of  their  ignorance,  and  our  enlightened  condition,  the 
rigors  of  war  wTere  mitigated,  begin  ?  At  a  time  when  we  were 
weak,  and  they  were  comparatively  strong — when  they  were  the 
lords  of  the  soil,  and  we  were  seeking,  from  the  vices,  from  the 
corruptions,  from  the  religious  intolerance,  and  from  the  op 
pressions  of  Europe,  to  gain  an  asylum  among  them.  And  when 
is  it  proposed  to  change  this  custom,  to  substitute  for  it  the  bloody 

*  The  following  is  the  extract  read  by  Mr.  Clay: 

"But  the  character  of  this  gallant  detachment,  exhibiting,  as  it  did,  perseverance, 
fortitude,  and  bravery,  would,  however,  be  incomplete,  if,  in  the  midst  of  victory,  they 
had  forgotten  the  feelinjrs  of  humanity.  It  is  with  the  sincerest  pleasure  that  the  gen 
eral .has  heard,  that  thcTmost  punctual  obedience  was  paid  to  his  orders,  in  not  only 
eaving  all  the  women  and  children,  but  in  sparing  all  the  icarriors  who  ceased  to 
resist;  and  that  even  when  vigorously  attacked  by  the  enemy,  the  claims  of  mercy 
prevailed  over  every  sense  of  their  own  danger,  and  this  heroic  band  respected  the 
lives  of  their  prisoners.  Let  an  account  of  murdered  innocence  be  opened  in  the 
records  of  heaven  against  our  enemies  alone.  The  American  soldier  will  follow  the 
example  of  his  government,  and  the  sword  of  the  one  will  not  be  raised  against  the 
fallen  and  the  helpless,  nor  the  gold  of  the  other  be  paid  for  scalps  of  a  -nassasred 
enemy." 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.  93 

maxims  of  barbarous  ages,  and  to  interpolate  the  Indian  public 
law  with  revolting  cruelties  ?  At  a  time  when  the  situation  of  the 
two  parties  is  totally  changed— when  we  are  powerful  and  they 
art:  weak — at  a  time  when,  to  use  a  figure  drawn  from  their  own 
sublime  eloquence,  the  poor  children  of  the  forest  have  been 
driven  by  the  great  wave  which  has  flowed  in  from  the  Atlantic 
ocean  almost  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  and,  over 
whelming  them  in  its  terrible  progress,  he  has  left  no  other  re 
mains  of  hundreds  of  tribes,  now  extinct,  than  those  which  indi 
cate  the  remote  existence  of  their  former  companion,  the  Mam 
moth  of  the  new  world !  Yes,  sir,  it  is  at  this  auspicious  period 
of  our  country,  when  we  hold  a  proud  and  lofty  station  among 
the  first  nations  of  the  world,  that  we  are  called  upon  to  sanction  a 
departure  from  the  established  laws  and  usages  whichhave  regula 
ted  our  Indian  hostilities.  And  does  the  honorable  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  expect,  in  this  august  body,  this  enlightened  assem 
bly  of  Christians  and  Americans,  by  glowing  appeals  to  our  passions, 
to  make  us  forget  our  principles,  our  religion,  our  clemency  and 
our  humanity?  Why  was  it,  Mr.  C.  asked,  that  we  had  not. 
practised  towards  the  Indian  tribes  the  right  of  retaliation,  now 
lor  the  first  time  asserted  in  regard  to  them?  It  was  because  it 
is  a  principle  proclaimed  by  reason,  and  enforced  by  every  re 
spectable  writer  on  the  law  of  nations,  that  retaliation  is  only 
justifiable  as  calculated  to  produce  effect  in  the  war.  Venge 
ance  was  a  new  motive  for  resorting  to  it.  If  retaliation  will 
produce  no  eflect  on  the  enemy,  we  are  bound  to  abstain  from  it, 
by  every  consideration  of  humanity  and  of  justice.  Will  it,  then, 
produce  effect  on  the  Indian  tribes  ?  No— they  care  not  about 
the  execution  of  those  of  their  warriors  who  are  taken  captive. 
They  are  considered  as  disgraced  by  the  very  circumstance  of 
their  captivity,  and  it  is  often  mercy  to  the  unhappy  captive  to 
deprive  him  of  his  existence.  The  poet  evinced  a  profound 
knowledge  of  the  Indian  character,  when  he  put  into  the  mouth 
of  the  son  of  a  distinguished  chief,  about  to  be  led  to  the  stake 
and  tortured  by  his  victorious  enemy,  the  words : 

$e:;in,  yo  tormentors!  your  threats  are  in  vain: 
The  son  of  Alknomook  will  never  complain. 

Retaliation  of  Indian  excesses,  not  producing  then  any  effect 
in  preventing  their  repetition,  was  condemned  by  both  reason 
and  the  principles  upon  which  alone,  in  any  case,  it  can  be  justi 
fied.  On  this  branch  of  the  subject,  much  more  might  be  said, 
but  as  he  should  possibly  again  allude  to  it,  he  would  pass  from 
it,  for  the  ^resent,  to  another  topic. 

It  was  hot  necessary,  Mr.  C.  said,  for  the  purpose  of  his  argu 
ment  in  regard  to  the  trial  and  execution  of  Arbuthnot  and  Am- 
brister,  to  insist  on  the  innocency  of  either  of  them.  He  would 
yield  for  the  sake  of  that  argument,  without  inquiry,  that  both 
of  them  were  guilty;  that  both  had  instigated  the  war;  and 
tkat  one  of  them  had  led  the  enemy  to  battle.  It  was  possible, 


96  ON   THE   SEMINOLE  WAR. 

indeed,  that  a  critical  examination  of  the  evidence  would  show., 
particularly  in  the  case  of  Arbuthnot,  that  the  whole  amount  of 
his  crime  consisted  in  his  trading,  without  the  limits  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  with  the  Seminole  Indians;  in  the  accustomed  com 
modities  which  form  the  subject  of  Indian  trade,  and  that  he  sought 
to  ingratiate  himself  with  his  customers,  by  espousing  their  in 
terests,  in  regard  to  the  provision  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  which 
he  may  have  honestly  believed  entitled  them  to  the  restoration 
of  their  lands.  And  if,  indeed,  the  treaty  of  Fort  Jackson,  for  the  rea 
sons  already  assigned,  were  not  binding  upon  the  Creeks,  there 
would  be  but  too  much  cause  to  lament  his  unhappy,  if  not  un 
just  fete.  The  first  impression  made  on  the  examination  of  the 
proceedings  in  the  trial  and  execution  of  those  two  men,  is,  that 
on  the  part  of  Ambrister  there  was  the  most  guilt,  but,  at  the 
same  time,  the  most  irregularity.  Conceding  "the  point  cf  guilt 
of  both,  with  the  qualification  which  he  had  stated,  he  would 
proceed  to  inquire,  first,  if  their  execution  could  be  justified  upon 
the  principles  assumed  by  General  Jackson  himself!  If  they  did 
not  afford  a  justification,  he  would  next  inquire  if  there  were 
any  other  principles  authorizing  their  execution ;  and  he  would, 
in  the  third  place,  make  some  observations  upon  the  mode  of 
proceeding. 

The  principle  assumed  by  General  Jackson,  which  may  be 
found  in  his  general  orders  commanding  the  execution  of  these 
men,  is^  "that  it  is  an  established  principle  of  the  law  of  nations, 
that  any  individual  of  a  nation,  making  war  against  the  citizens 
of  any  other  nation,  they  being  at  peace,  forfeits  his  allegiance, 
and  becomes  an  outlaw  and  a  pirate."  Whatever  may  be  the 
character  of  individuals  waging  private  wrar,  the  principle  as 
sumed  is  totally  erroneous,  when  applied  to  such  individuals  aa- 
eociated  with  a  power,  whether  Indian  or  civilized,  capable  of 
maintaining  the  relations  of  peace  and  war.  Suppose,  however, 
the  principle  were  true,  as  asserted,  what  disposition  should  he 
have  made  of  these  men  ?  What  jurisdiction,  and  how  acquired, 
has  the  military  over  pirates,  robbers,  and  outlaws  ?  If  they 
•«vere  in  the  character  imputed,  they  wrere  alone  amenable,  and 
should  have  been  turned  over  to  the  civil  authority.  But  the 
principle,  he  repeated,  was  totally  incorrect,  when  applied  to  men 
in  their  situation.  A  foreigner,  connecting  himself  with  a  bellig 
erent,  becomes  an  enemy  of  the  party  to  whom  that  belligerent 
is  opposed,  subject  to  whatever  he  may  be  subject,  entitled  to 
whatever  he  is  entitled.  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  by  associ 
ating  themselves,  became  identified  with  the  Indians ;  they  be 
came  our  enemies,  and  we  had  a  right  to  treat  them  as  we  could 
lawfully  treat  the  Indians.  These  positions  were  so  obviously 
correct,  that  he  should  consider  it  an  abuse  of  the  patience  of  the 
committee  to  consume  time  in  their  proof.  They  were  supported 
by  the  practice  of  all  nations,  and  of  our  own.  Every  page  of 
history,  in  all  times,  and  the  recollection  of  every  member,  fur 
nish  evidence  of  their  truth.  Let  us  look  for  a  moment  into  some 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.  97 

of  the  consequences  of  this  principle,  if  it  were  to  go  to  Europe, 
sanctioned  by  the  approbation,  express  or  implied,  of  this  house. 
We  have  now  in  our  armies  probably  the  subjects  of  almost  ev 
ery  European  power.  Some  of  the  nations  of  Europe  maintain 
the  doctrine  of  perpetual  allegiance.  Suppose  Britain  and 
America  in  peace,  and-America~and  France  at  war.  The  for 
mer  subjects  of  England,  naturalized  and  unnaturalized.  are  cap 
tured  by  the  navy  or  army  of  France.  What  is  their  condition? 
according  to  the  principle  of  General  Jackson,  they  would  be  out 
laws  and  pirates,  and  liable  to  immediate  execution.  Were  gen 
tlemen  prepared  to  return  to  their  respective  districts  with  this 
doctrine  in  their  mouths,  and  say  to  their  Irish,  English,  Scotch, 
and  other  foreign  constituents,  that  you  are  liable,  on  the  contin 
gency  supposed,  to  be  treated  as  outlaws  and  pirates? 

Was  there  any  other  principle  which  justified  the  proceedings? 
On  this  subject  he  said,  if  he  admired  the  wonderful  ingenuity 
with  which  gentlemen  sought  a  colorable  pretext  for  those  exe 
cutions,  he  was  at  the  same  time  shocked  at  some  of  the  princi 
ples  advanced.  What  said  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Mas 
sachusetts  .(Mr.  Holmes)  in  a  cold  address  to  the  committee? 
Why,  that  these  executions  were  only  the  wrong  mode  of  doing 
a  right  thing.  A  wrong  mode  of  doing  a  right  thing !  In  what 
code  of  public  law  5  in  what  system  of  ethics ;  nay,  in  what  res 
pectable  novel ;  where,  if  the  gentleman  were  to  take  the  range 
of  the  whole  literature  of  the  world,  will  he  find  any  sanction  for 
a  principle  so  monstrous?  He  would  illustrate  its  enormity  by 
a  single  case.  Suppose  a  man  being  guilty  of  robbery,  js' tried, 
condemned,  and  executed  for  murder,  upon  an  indictment  for  that 
robbery  merely.  The  judge  is  arraigned  for  having  executed, 
contrary  to  law,  a  human  being,  innocent  at  heart  of  the  crime 
for  which  he  was  sentenced.  The  judge  has  nothing  to  do,  to 
ensure  his  own  acquittal,  but  to  urge  the  gentleman's  plea,  that 
he  had  done  a  right  thing  a  wrong  way ! 

The  principles  which  attached  to  the  cases  of  Arbuthnot  and 
Ambrister,  constituting  them  merely  participes  in  the  war,,  sup 
posing  them  to  have  been  combatants,  which  the  former  was  not, 
tie  having  been  taken  in  a  Spanish  fortress,  without  arms  in  his 
hands,  all  that  we  could  possibly  have  a  right  to  do,  was  to  apply 
to  them  the  rules  which  we  had  a  right  to  enforce  against  the 
Indians.  Their  English  character  was  only  merged  in  their  In 
dian  character.  Now,  if  the  law  regulating  Indian  hostilities,  be 
established  by  long  and  immemorial  usage,  that  we  have  no  mo 
ral  right  to  retaliate  upon  them,  we  consequently  had  no  right  to 
retaliate  upon  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister.  Even  if  it  were  ad 
mitted  that,  in  regard  to  future  wars,  and  to  other  foreigners, 
their  execution  may  have  a  good  effect,  it  would  not  thence  fol 
low  that  you  had  a  right  to  execute  them.  It  is  not  always  just 
to  do  what  may  be  advantageous.  And  retaliation,  during  a 
war,  must  have  relation  to  the  events  of  that  war,  and  must,  to 
9 


98  ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.       .. 

be  just,  have  an  operation  on  that  war,  and  upon  the  individual* 
only  who  compose  the  belligerent  party.  It  became  gentlemen, 
then,  on  the  other  side,  to  show,  by  some  known,  certain  and  re 
cognized  rule  of  public  or  municipal  law,  that  the  execution  of 
these  men  was  justified.  Where  is  it?  He  should  be  glad  to  , 
see  it.  We  are  told  in  a  paper  emanating  from  the  department 
of  state,  recently  laid  before  this  house,  distinguished  fo~  the  fer 
vor  of  its  eloquence,  and  of  which  the  honorable  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  has  supplied  us  in  part  with  a  second  edition,  in 
one  respect  agreeing  with  the  prototype,  that  they  both  ought  to 
be  inscribed  to  the  American  public — we  arc  justly  told  in  that 
paper,  that  this  is  the  Jirsc  instance  of  the  execution  of  persons 
(or  the  crime  of  instigating  Indians  to  \var.  Sir,  there  are  two 
topics  which,  in  Europe,  are  constantly  employed  by  the  friends 
and  minions  of  legitimacy  against  our  country.  The  one  is  an 
inordinate  spirit  of  aggrandizement — of  coveting  other  people's 
goods.  The  other  is  the  treatment  which  we  extend  to  the  In 
dians.  Against  both  these  charges,  the  public  servants  who  con 
ducted  at  Ghent  the  negotiations  with  the  British  commissioners, 
endeavored  to  vindicate  our  country,  and  he  hoped  \vith  some, 
degree  of  success.  What  will  be  the  condition  of  future  Ameri 
can  negotiators,  when  pressed  upon  this  head,  he  knew  riot,  af 
ter  {fee  unhappy  executions  on  our  southern  border.  The  gentle 
man  from  Massachusetts  seemed  on  yesterday  to  .read,  with  a 
sort  of  triumph,  the  names  of  the  commissioners  employed  in  iho 
negotiation  'at  Ghent.  Will  he  excuse  me  for  saying,  that  I 
thought  he  pronounced,  even  with  more  complacency  and  with  a, 
more  gracious  smile,  the  first  name  in  the  commission,  than  he) 
emphasized  that  of  the  humble  individual  who  addresses  you. 
(Mr.  Holmes  desired  to  explain.)  Mr.  C.  said  there  was  no  occa 
sion  for  explanation;  he  was  perfectly  satisfied.  (Mr.  H.  how 
ever,  proceeded  to  say  that  his  intention  was,  in  pronouncing  the 
gentleman's  name,  to  add  to  the  respect  due  to  the  negotiator 
that  which  was  due  to  the  speaker  of  this  house.)  To  return  to 
the  case  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister.  Will  the  principle  of  these 
men  having  been  the  instigators  of  the  war,  justify  their  execu 
tion  ?  It  was  a  new  one ;  there  were  no  land  marks  to  guide  us 
in  its  adoption,  or  to  prescribe  limits  in  its  application.  If  Wil 
liam  Pitt  had  been  taken  by  the  French  army,  during  the  late* 
European  war,  could  France  have  justifiably  executed  him,  on 
the  ground  of  his  having  notoriously  instigated  the  continental 
powers  to  war  against  France?  Would  France,  if  she  had  stain 
ed  her  character  by  executing  him,  have  obtained  the  sanction 
of  the  world  to  the  act,  by  appeals  to  the  passions  and  prejudi 
ces,  by  pointing  to  the  cities  sacked,  the  countries  laid  waste,  the 
human  lives  sacrificed  in  the  wars  which  he  had  kindled,  and  by 
exclaiming  to  the  unfortunate  captive,  you!  miscreant,  monster, 
have  occasioned  all  these  scenes  of  devastation  and  blood? 
What  had  been  the  conduct  even  of  England  towards  the  great 
OBI  instigator  of  all  the  wars  of  the  present  age  ?  The  condeuv 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.  99 

nation  of  that  illustrious  man  to  the  rock  of  St.  Helena,  was  a 
great  blot  on  the  English  name.  And  Mr.  C.  repeated  what  he 
had  before  said,  that  if  Chatham  or  Fox,  or  even  William  Pitt 
himself,  had  been  prime  minister,  in  England,  Bonaparte  had 
never  been  so  condemned.  On  that  transaction  history  will  one 
day  pass  its  severe  but  just  censure.  Yes.  although  Napoleon 
had  desolated  half  Europe ;  although  there  was  scarcely  a  pow 
er,  however  humble,  that  escaped  the  mighty  grasp  of  his  am 
bition  ;  although  in  the  course  of  his  splendid  career  he  is  charged 
with  having  committed  the  greatest  atrocities,  disgraceful  to  him 
self  and  to  human  nature,  yet  even  his  life  has  been  spared.  The 
allies  would  not,  England  would  not,  execute  him,  upon  the 
ground  of  his  being  an  instigator  of  wars. 

The  mode  of  the  trial  and  sentencing  these  men,  Mr.  C.  eaid, 
was  equally  objectionable  with  the  principles  on  which  it  had 
been  attempted  to  prove  a  forfeiture  of  their  lives.  He  knew, 
he  eaid,  the  laudable  spirit  which  prompted  the  ingenuity  dis 
played  in  finding  out  a  justification  for  these  proceedings.  He 
wished  most  sincerely  that  he  could  reconcile  them  to  his  con 
science.  It  had  been  attempted  to  vindicate  the  General  upon 
grounds  which  he  was  persuaded  he  would  himself  disown.  It 
had  been  asserted,  that  he  was  guilty  of  a  mistake  in  calling  up 
on  the  court  to  try  them,  and  that  he  might  have  at  once  ordered 
their  execution,  without  that  formality.  He  denied  that  there 
was  any  such  absolute  right  in  tho  commander  of  any  portion 
of  our  army.  The  right  of  retaliation  is  an  attribute  of  sover 
eignty.  It  is  comprehended  in  the  war  making  power  that  Con 
gress  possesses.  It  belongs  to  this  body  not  only  to  declare  war, 
but  to-  raise  armies,  and  to  make  rules  and  regulations  for  their 
government.  It  was  in  vain  for  gentlemen  to  look  to  the  law  of 
nations  for  instances  in  which  retaliation  is  lawful.  The  laws 
of  nations  merely  laid  down  the  principle  or  rule  ;  it  belongs  to 
the  government  to  constitute  the  tribunal  for  applying  that  prin 
ciple  or  rule.  There  was,  for  example,  no  instance  in  which  the 
death  of  a  captive  was  more  certainly  declared  by  the  law  of 
nations  to  be  justifiable,  than  in  the  case  of  spies.  Congress  has 
accordingly  provided,  in  the  rules  and  articles  of  war,  a  tribunal 
for  the  trial  of  spies,  and  consequently  for  the  application  of  the 
principle  of  the  national  law.  The  legislature  had  not  left  the 
power  over  spies  undefined,  to  the  mere  discretion  of  the  com 
mander  in  chief,  or  of  any  subaltern  officer  in  the  army.  For,  if 
the  doctrines  now  contended  for  were  true,  they  would  apply  to 
the  commander  o'f  any  corps,  however  small,  acting  as  a  detach 
ment.  Suppose  Congress  had  not  legislated  in  the  case  of  spies, 
what  would  have  been  their  condition  'I  It  would  have  been  a 
dbsus  omissus,  and  although  the  public  law  pronounced  their 
doom,  it  could  not  be  executed  because  Congress  had  assigned 
no  tribunal  for  enforcing  that  public  law.  No  man  could  be  ex 
ecuted  in  this  free  country  without  two  things  being  shown:  1st, 
That  the  law  condemns  him  to  death ;  and  2d,  That  his  death  is 


100  ON  THE  SEMINOLB  WAR. 

pronounced  by  that  tribunal  which  is  authorized  by  the  law  to  try 
him.  These  principles  would  reach  every  man's  case,  native  or  for 
eign,  citizen  or  alien.  The  instant  quarters  are  granted  to  a  prison 
er,  the  majesty  of  the  law  surrounds  and  sustains  him,  and  he  can 
not  be  lawfully  punished  with  death  without  the  concurrence  of  the 
two  circumstances  just  insisted  upon.  He  denied  that  any  com- 
inunder  in  chief,  in  this  country,  had  this  absolute  power  of  life, 
and  death,  at  his  sole  discretion.  It  was  contrary  to  the  genius 
of  all  our  laws  and  institutions.  To  concentrate  in  the  person 
of  one  individual  the  powers  to  make  the  rule,  to  judge  and  to 
execute  the  rule,  or  to  judge,  and  execute  the  rule  only,  was  ut 
terly  irreconcilable  with  every  principle  of  free  government,  and 
was  the  very  definition  of  tyranny  itself;  and  ho  trusted  that  this 
house  would  never  give  even  a  tacit  ass.ent  to  such  a  principle. 
Suppose  the  commander  had  made  even  reprisals  on  property, 
would  that  property  have  belonged  to  the  nation,  or  could  he 
have  disposed  of  it  as  he  pleased  ?  Had  he  more  power,  would 
gentlemen  tell  him;  over  the  lives  of  human  beings,  than  over 
property?  The  assertion  of  such  a  power  to. the  commander  in 
chief,  was  contrary  to  the  practice  of  the  government.  By  ari 
act  of  Congress,  which  passed  in  1799,  vesting  the  power  of  re-t 
taliation  in  certain  cases  in  the  President  of  the  United  Stales — 
an  act  which  passed  during  the  quasi  war  with  France,  the, Pre 
sident  is  authorized  to  retaliate  upon  any  of  the  citizens  of  the 
French  republic,  the  enormities  which  may  be  practised  in  cer 
tain  cases,  upon  our  citizens.  Under  what  administration  waa 
this  act  passed?  It  was  under  that  which  has  been  justly  charg 
ed  with  stretching  the  constitution  to  enlarge  the  executive  pow 
ers.  Even  during  the  mad  career  of  Mr.  Adams.' when  every 
means  were  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  infusing  vigor  into  tho 
executive  arm,  no  one  thought  of  claiming  for  him  the  inherent 
right  of  retaliation.  He  would  not  trouble  the  house  with  read 
ing  another  law,  which  passed  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  after, 
during  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  under  the  administration 
of  that  great  constitutional  President,  the  father  of  the  instrument 
itself,  by  which  Mr.  Madison  was  empowered  to  retaliate  on  the 
British  in  certain  instances.  It  was  not  only  contrary  to  the  ge 
nius  of  our  institutions,  and  to  the  uniform  practice  of  the  gov 
ernment,  but  it  was  contrary  to  the  obvious  principles  on  which 
the  General  himself  had  proceeded ;  for,  in  forming  the  court,  he 
had  evidently  intended  to  proceed  under  the  rules  and  articles  of 
war.  The  extreme  number  which  they  provide  for  is  thirteen, 
precisely  that  which  is  detailed  in  the  present  instance.  _  The 
court  proceeded  not  by  a  bare  plurality,  but  by  a  majority  of 
two-thirds.  In  the  general  orders  issued  from  the  Adjutant  Gen 
eral's  office,  at  head  quarters,  it  is  described  as  a  court-martial. 
The  prisoners  are  said,  in  those  orders,  to  have  been  tried  '•  on 
the  following  charges  and  specifications."  The  court  understood 
itself  to  be  acting  as  a  court-martial.  It  was  so  organized— it  so 
proceeded,  having  a  judge  advocate,  hearing  witnesses,  and  the 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR,  10) 

written  defence  of  the  miserable  trembling  prisoners,  who  seemed 
to  have  a  presentiment  of  their  doom.  And  the  court  was  final 
ly  dissolved.  The  whole  proceeding  manifestly  shows  that  all 
parties  considered  it  as  a  court-martial,  convened  and  acting  un 
der  the  rules  and  articles  of  war.  In  his  letter  to  the  secretary 
of  war,  noticing  the  transaction,  the  General  says :  "  These  indi 
viduals  were  tried  under  my  orders,  legally  convicted  as  exciters 
of  this  savage  and  negro  war.  legally  condemned  and  inoet  justly 
punished  for  their  iniquities."  The  Lord  deliver  us  from  such 
legal  conviction,  and  such  legal  condemnation !  The  General 
himself  considered  the  laws  of  his  country  to  have  justified  his 
proceedings.  It  was  in  vain  then  to  talk  of  a  power  in  him  be 
yond  the  law,  and  above  the  law,  when  he  himself  does  not  as 
sert  it.  Let  it  be  conceded,  that  he  was  clothed  with  absolute 
authority  over  the  lives  of  those  individuals,  and  that,  upon  his 
own  fiat,  without  trial,  without  defence,  he  might  have  command 
ed  their  execution.  Now,  if  an  absolute  sovereign,  in  any  par 
ticular  respect,  promulgates  a  rule,  which  he  pledges  himself  to 
observe,  if  he  subsequently  deviates  from  that  rule,  he  subjects 
himself  to  the  imputation  of  odious  tyranny.  If  General  Jack 
son  had  the  power,  without  a  court,  to  condemn  these  men,  he 
had  also  the  power  to  appoint  a  tribunal.  He  did  appoint  a  tri 
bunal,  and  became,  therefore,  morally  bound  to  observe  and  exe 
cute  the  sentence  of  that  tribunal.  In  regard  to  Arnbrister,  it 
was  with  grief  and  pain  he  was  compelled  to  say.  that  he  was 
executed  in  defiance  of  all  law ;  in  defiance  of  the  law  to  which 
General  Jackson  had  voluntarily,  if  you  please,  submitted  him 
self,  and  given,  by  his  appeal  to  the  court  his  implied  pledge  to 
observe.  He  knew  but  little  of  military  law,  and  what  had  hap 
pened,  had  certainly  not  created  in  him  a  taste  for  acquiring  a 
Knowledge  of  more ;  but  he  believed  there  was  no  example  on 
record,  where  the  sentence  of  the  court  has  been  erased,  and  a 
sentence  not  pronounced  by  it  carried  into  execution.  It  had 
been  suggested  that  the  court  had  pronounced  two  sentences, 
and  that  the  General  had  a  right  lo  select  either.  Two  senten 
ces  !  Two  verdicts  !  It  was  riot  so.  The  first  being  revoked, 
was  as  though  it  had  never  been  pronounced.  And  there  re 
mained  only  one  sentence,  which  was  put  aside  upon  the  sole 
authority  of  the  commander,  and  the  execution  of  the  prisoner 
ordered.  He  either  had  or  had  not  a  right  to  decide  upon  the 
fate  of  that  man,  without  the  intervention  of  a  court  If  he  had 
the  right  he  waived  it  and,  having  violated  the  sentence  of  the 
court,  there  was  brought  upon  the  judicial  administration  of  the 
army  a  reproach,  which  must  occasion  the  most  lasting  regret. 

However  guilty  these  men  were,  they  should  not  have  been 
condemned  or  executed,  without  the  authority  of  the  law.  He 
would  not  dwell,  at  this  time,  on  the  effect  of  these  precedents  in 
foreign  countries,  but  he  would  not  pass  unnoticed  their  danger 
ous  influence  in  our  own  country.  Bad  examples  are  generally  Bet 


102  ON  THE  SEM1NOLE  WAR. 

in  tJyj  caees.  of  bad  .men,  and  often  remote  from  the  central  gov 
ernment.  It  was  in  the  provinces  that  were  laid  the  abuses  and 
the  seeds  of  the  ambitious  projects  which  overturned  the  liberties 
of  Rome.  He  beseeched  the  committee  not  to  be  so  captivated 
by  the  charms  of  eloquence,  and  the  appeals  made  to  our  pas' 
sions  and  our  sympathies,  as  to  forget  the  fundamental  principles 
of  our  government  The  influence  of  a  bad  example  would  often 
be  felt  when  its  authors  and  all  the  circumstances  connected 
with  it,  were  no  longer  remembered.  He  knew  of  but  one  anal- 
agous  instance  of  the  execution  of  a  prisoner,- and  that  had 
brought  more  odium,  than  almost  any  other  incident,  on  the  un 
happy  emperor  of  France.  He  alluded  to  the  instance  of  the  ex 
ecution  of  the  unfortunate  member  of  the  Beurbon  house.  He 
sought  an  asylum  in  the  territories  of  Baden.  Bonaparte  des 
patched  a  corps  of  gen-d'armes  to  the  place  of  his  retreat,  seized 
him,  and  brought  him  to  the  dungeons  of  Vincennea.  He  was 
there  tried  by  a  court  martial,  condemned,  and  shot.  There,  as 
here  was  a  violation  of  neutral  territory ;  there  the  neutral 
ground  was  not  stained  with  the  blood  of  him  whom  it  should 
have  protected.  And  there  was  another  most  unfortunate  differ 
ence  for  the  Amencian  example.  The  duke  D'Enghein  was  ex- 
cuted  according  to  his  sentence.  It  is  said  by  the  defenders  of 
Napoleon,  that  the  duke  had  been  machinating  not  merely  to 
overturn  the  French  government,  but  against  the  life  of  its  chief. 
If  that  were  true,  he  might,  if  taken  in  France,  have  been  legally 
executed.  Such  was  the  odium  brought  upon  the  instruments 
of  this  transaction,  that  those  persons  who  have  .been  even  sus 
pected  of  participation  in  it  have  sought  to  vindicate  themselves 
from  what  they  appear  to  have  considered  as  an  aspersion,  before 
foreign  courts.  Inconclusionof  this  part  of  the  subject,  Mr.  C.  said 
that  he  most  cheerfully  and  entirely  acquitted  General  Jackson  of 
any  intention  to  violate  the  laws  ef  the  country,  or  the  obligations  of 
humanity.  He  was  persuaded,  from  all  that  he  had  heard,  that 
he  considered  himself  as  equally  respecting  and  observing  both. 
With  respect  to  the  purity  of  his  intentions,  therefore,  he  was 
disposed  to  allow  it  in  the  most  extensive  degree.  Ofhisocte, 
said  Mr.  C.,  it  is  my  duty  to  speak  with  the  freedom  which  belongs 
to  my  station.  And  I  shall  now  proceed  to  consider  some  of 
them,  of  the  most  momentous  character,  as  it  regards  the  distri 
bution  of  the  powers  of  government. 

Of  all  the  powers  conferred  by  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  not  one  is  more  expressly  and  exclusively  granted  than 
that  which  gives  to  Congress  the  power  to  declare  war.  The 
immortal  convention  who  formed  that  instrument,  had  abundant 
reason  drawn  from  every  page  of  history,  for  confiding  this  tre 
mendous  power  to  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  representatives 
of  the  people.  It  was  there  seen  that  nations  are  often  precipi 
tated  into  ruinous  war  from  folly,  from  pride,  from  ambition,  and 
from  the  desire  of  military  fame.  It  was  believed,  no  doubt,  in 
eomraitting  this  great  subject  to  the  legislature  of  the  UP' OP,  we 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.  103 

should  be  safe  from  the  mad  wars  that  have  afflicted  and  desolat 
ed  and  ruined  other  countries.  It  was  supposed  that  before  any 
war  was  declared,  the  nature  of  the  injury  complained  of  would 
be  carefully  examined,  and  the  power  and  resources  of  the  enemy 
estimated,  and  the  power  and  resources  of  our  own  country,  as  well 
as  the  probable  issue  and  consequences  of  the  war.  It  was  to  guard 
our  country  against  precisely  that  species  of  rashness,  which  has 
been  manifested  in  Florida,  that  the  constitution  was  so  framed. 
If,  then,  this  power,  thus  cautiously  and  clearly  bestowed  upon 
Congress,  has  been  assumed  and  exercised  by  any  other  function 
ary  of  the  government,  it  is  cause  of  serious  alarm,  and  it  became 
that  body  to  vindicate  and  maintain  its  authority  by  all  the  means 
in  its  power;  and  yet  there  arc  some  gentlemen,  who  would  have 
us  not  merely  to  yield  a  tame  and  .silent  acquiescence  in  the  en 
croachment,  but  even  to  pass  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  author. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  1818,  (Mr.  C.  continued,)  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  communicated  a  message  to  Con 
gress  in  relation  to  the  Seminole  war,  in  which  he  de-clared  that, 
although  in  the  prosecution  of  it,  orders  had  been  given  to  pass 
into  the  Spanish  territory,  they  were  KO  guarded  as  that  the  local 
authorities  of  Spain  should  be  respected.  How  respected  ?  The 
president,  by  the  documents  accompanying  the  message,  the 
orders  themselves  which  issued  from  the  department  of  war,  to 
the  commanding  general,  had  assured  the  legislature  that,  even 
if  the  enemy  should  take  shelter  under  a  Spanish  fortress,  the 
fortress  was  not  to  be  attacked,  but  the  fact  to  be  reported  to  that 
department  for  further  orders.  Congress  saw,  therefore,  that 
there  was  no  danger  of  violating  the  existing  peace.  And  yet, 
on  the  same  twenty-fifth  day  of  March  (a  most  singular  concur 
rence  of  datesj)  when  the  representatives  of  the  people  received 
this  solemn  message,  announced  in  the  presence  of  the  nation 
and  in  the  face  of  the  world,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  friendly  negoti 
ation  with  Spain,  does  General  Jackson  write  from  his  head 
quarters,  that  he  shall  take  St.  Marks  as  a  necessary  depot  for 
his  military  operations  !  The  General  states,  in  his  letter,  what 
he  had  heard  about  the  threat  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  and 
Negroes,  to  occupy  the  fort,  and  declares  his  purpose  to  possess 
himself  of  it,  in  either  of  the  two  contingencies,  of  its  being  in 
their  hands,  or  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.  He  assumed  a 
right  to  judge  what  Spain  was  bound  to  do  by  her  treaty,  and 
judged  very  correctly ;  but  then  he  also  assumed  the  power,  be 
longing  to  Congress  alone,  of  determining  what  should  be  the 
effect,  and  consequence  of  her  breach  of  engagement.  General 
Jackson  generally  performs  what  he  intimates  his  intention  to  do. 
Accordingly,finding  St.  Marks  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards, 
he  seized  and  occupied  it.  Was  ever,  he  asked,  the  just  confid 
ence  of  the  legislative  body,  in  the  assurances  of  the  chief  magis 
trate,  more  abused  ?  The  Spanish  commander  intimated  his 
willingness  that  the  American  army  should  take  post  near  him, 
until  he  could  have  instructions  from  his  superior  officer,  and  pro- 


'104  ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. 

fxnised  to  maintain  in  the  mean  time  the  most  friendly  relations. 
No  !  St.  Marks  was  a  convenient  post  for  the  American  army, 
and  delay  was  inadmissible.  He  had  always  undestood  that  the 
Indians  but  rarely  take  or  defend  fortresses,  because  they  are  un 
skilled  in  the  modes  of  attack  and  defence.  The  threat,  there 
fore,  on  their  part,  to  seize  on  St.  Marks  must  have  been  empty, 
and  would  probably  have  been  impossible.  At  all  events,  when 
General  Jackson  arrived  there,  no  danger  any  longer  threatened 
the  Spaniards  from  the  miserable  fugitive  Indians,  who  fled  on 
all  sides  upon  his  approach.  And,  sir,  upon  what  plea  is  this 
violation  of  orders,  and  this  act  of  war  upon  a  foreign  power,  at 
tempted  to  be  justified?  Upon  the  grounds  of  the  eonveniency 
of  the  depot  and  the  Indian  threat  The  first  he  would  not  sen- 
ously  examine  and  expose.  If  the  Spanish  character  of  the  fort 
had  been  totally  merged  in  the  Indian  character,  it  might  have 
been  justifiable  to  sieze  it.  But  that  was  not  the  fact,  and  the 
bare  possibility  of  its  being  forcibly  taken  by  the  Indians,  could 
not  justify  our  anticipating  their  blow.  Of  all  the  odious  transac 
tions  which  occurred  during  the  late  war  between  France  and 
England,  none  was  more  condemned  in  Europe  and  in  this 
country,  than  her  seizure  of  the  fleet  of  Denmark  at  Copenhagen. 
And  he  lamented  to  be  obliged  to  notice  the  analogy  which  ex 
isted  in  the  defences  made  of  the  two  cases.  If  his  "recollection 
did  not  deceive  him,  Bonaparte  had  passed  the  Rhine  and  the 
Alps,  had  conquered  Italy,  the  Netherlands,  Holland,  Kanover, 
Lubec,  and  Hamburg,  and  extended  his  empire  as  far  as  Altona 
on  the  side  of  Denmark.  A  few  days'march  would  have  carried 
him  through  Holstein,  over  the  two  Belts,  through  Funen,  and  into 
the  island  of  Zealand.  What  then  was  the  conduct  of  England  ? 
It  was  my  lot,  Mr.  C.  said,  to  fall  into  conversation  with  an  intel 
ligent  Englishman  on  this  subject.  "  We  knew  (said  he)  that  we 
were  fighting  for  our  existence.  It  was  absolutely  necessary 
that  we  should  preserve  the  command  of  the  seas.  If  the  fleet 
of  Demark  fell  into  the  enemy's  hands,  combined  with  his  other 
fleets,  that  command  might  be  rendered  doubtful.  Denmark  had 
only  a  nominal  independence.  She  was,  in  truth,  subject  to  his 
sway.  We  said  to  her,  give  us  your  fleet ;  it  will  otherwise  be 
taken  possession  of  by  your  secret  and  our  open  enemy.  We 
will  preserve  it,  and  restore  it  to  you  whenever  the  danger  shall 
be  over.  Denmark  refused.  Copenhagen  was  bombarded,  gal 
lantly  defended,  but  the  fleet  was  seized."  Every  where  the 
conduct  of  England  was  censured ;  and  the  name  even  of  the 
negotiator  who  was  employed  by  her,  who  was  subsequent 
ly  the  minister  near  this  government,  was  scarcely  ever  pro 
nounced  here  without  coupling  with  it  an  epithet  indicating  hie 
participation  in  the  disgraceful  transaction.  And  yet  we  are 
going  to  sanction  acts  of  violence,  committed  by  ourselves,  which 
but  too  much  resemble  it !  What  an  important  difference,  too, 
between  the  relative  condition  of  England  and  of  this  country ! 
She  perhaps  was  struggling  for  her  existence.  She  was  com- 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.  105 

bating,  single-handed,  the  most  enormous  military  power  that  the 
world  has  ever  known.  Who  were  we  contending  with! 
With  a  few  half-starved,  half-clothed,  wretched  Indians,  and 
fugitive  slaves.  And,  whilst  carrying  on  this  inglorious  war, — 
inglorious  as  it  regards  the  laurels  or  renown  won  in  it, — we  vio 
late  neutral  rights,  which  the  government  had  solemnly  pledged 
itself  to  respect,  upon  the  principle  of  convenience,  or  upon  the 
light  presumption  that,  by  possiblity,  a  post  might  be  taken  by 
this  miserable  combination  of  Indians  and  slaves. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  the  General  writes  from  St.  Marks,  that 
he  shall  march  for  the  Suwaney  river;  the.  destroying  of  the 
establishments  on  which  will,  in  his  opinion,  bring  the  war  to  a 
close.  Accordingly,  having  effected  that  object,  he  writes,  on 
the  20th  of  April,  that  he  believes  he  may  say  that  the  war  is  at 
an  end  for  the  present.  He  repeats  the  same  opinion  in  his  letter 
to  the  secretary  of  war,  written  six  days  after.  The  war  being 
thus  ended,  it  might  have  been  hoped  that  no  further  hostilities 
would  have  been  committed.  Butoivthe  23,1  of  May,  on  his  way: 
home,  he  receives  a  letter  from  the  commandant  of  Pensacola, 
intimating  his  surprise  at  the  invasion  of  the  Spanish  territory, 
and  the  acts  of  hostility  performed  by.  the  American  army,  and 
his  determination,  if  persisted  in.  to  employ  force  to  repel  them. 
Let  us  pause  and  examine  this  proceeding  of  the  governor,  so 
very  hostile  and  aifrontive  in  the  view  of  General  Jackson.  Re 
collect  that  he  was  governor  of  Florida;  that  he  had  received 
no  orders  from  his  superiors,  to  allow  a  passage  to  the  American 
army;  that  he  had  heard  of  the  reduction  of  St.  Marks;  and  that 
General  Jackson,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  was  approaching  in 
the  direction  of  Pensacola.  He  had  seen  the  president's  mes 
sage  of  the  25th  of  March,  and  reminded  General  Jackson  of  it, 
to  satisfy  him  that  the  American  government  could. not  have 
authorized  all  those  measures.  Mr.  C.  said  he  could  not  read 
the  allusion  made  by  the  governor  to  that  message,  without  feel 
ing  that  the  charge  of  insincerity,  which 'it  implied,  had  at  least 
but  too  much  the  appearance  of  truth  in  it.  Could  the  governor 
have  done  less  than  write  some  such  letter?  We  have  only  to 
reverse  situations,  and  to  suppose  him  to  have  been  an  American 
governor.  General  Jackson  says,  that  when  he  received  that 
letter,  he  no  longer  hesitated.  No,  sir,  he  did  no  longer  hesitate. 
He  received  it  on  the  23d,  he  was  in,  Pensacola  on  the  24th,  an.d 
immediately  after  set  himself  before  the  fortress  of  San  Carlos  de 
•  Barancas,  which  he  shortly  reduced.  Veni,  vidi,  vici.  Wonderful 
energy  I  .Admirable  promptitude.  Alas  \  fliat  it  had  not  been  an 
energy  and  a  promptitude  within  the  pale  of  the  constitution,  and 
according  to  the  orders  of  the  chief  magistrate  \  It  was  impossible 
to  give  any  definition  of  war,  that  would  not  comprehend  these 
acts.  It  was  open,  undisguised,  and  unauthorized  hostility. 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  had  endeavored 
to  derive  some  authority  to  General  Jackson  from  the  message 
of  the  President,  and  the  letter  of  the  Secretary  of  War  to  Gov, 


1.06  ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. 


The  message  declares  that  the  Spanish  authorities  are  to 
be  respected  wherever  maintained.  What  the  President  means 
\*y  their  being  maintained,  is  explained  in  the  orders  themselves, 
by  the  extreme  case  being  put  of  the  enemy  seeking  shelter  under 
a  Spanish  fort.  If  even  in  that  case  he  was  not  to  attack,  cer 
tainly  he  was  not  to  attack  in  any  case  of  less  strength.  The 
letter  to  Gov.  Bibb  admits  of  a  similar  explanation.  When  the 
Secretary  says/in  that  letter,  that  General  Jackson  is  fully  em 
powered  to  bring  the  Seminole  war  to  a  conclusion,  he  means 
'hat  he  is  so  empowered  by  his  orders,  which,  being  now  before 
us,  must  speak  for  themselves.  It  does  not  appear  that  General 
,»ackson  ever  saw  that  letter,  which  was  dated  at  this  place  after 
the  capture  of  St.  Marks.  He  would  take  a  momentary  glance 
at  the  orders.  On  the  2d  of  December,  1817,  General  Gaines 
was  forbidden  to  cross  the  Florida  line.  Seven  days  after,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  having  arrived  here,  and  infused  a  little  more 
energy  into  our  councils,  he  was  authorized  to  use  a  sound  dis- 
•cretion  in  crossing  it  or  not.  On  the  16th,  he  was  instructed 
again  to  consider  himself  at  liberty  to  cross  the  line,  and  pursue 
the  enemy;  but,  if  he  took  refuge  under  a  Spanish  fortress,  the 
fact  was  to  be  reported  to  the  department  of  uar.  These  or 
ders  were  transmitted  to  General  Jackson,  and  constituted,  or 
ought  to  have  constituted,  his  guide.  There  was  then  no  justi 
fication  for  -the  occupation  of  Pensacola,  and  the  attack  on  the 
Barancas.  in  the  message  of  the  President,  the  letter  to  Gov. 
Bibb,  or  in  the  orders  themselves.  The  gentleman  from  Massa 
chusetts  would  pardon  him  for  saying  that  he  had  undertaken 
what  even  his  talents  were  not  competent  to  —  the  maintenance 
of  directly  contradictory  propositions,  that  it  was  right  in  Gene 
ral  Jackson  to  take  Pensacola,  and  wrong  in  the  President  to 
keep  it.  The  gentleman  has  made  a  greater  mistake  than  he 
eupposes  General  Jackson  to  have  done  in  attacking  Pensacola 
for  an  Indian  town,  by  attempting  the  defence  both  of  the  Presi 
dent  and  General  Jackson.  If  it  were  right  in  him  to  seize  the 
place,  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  have  been  right  in  the  Presi 
dent  immediately  to  surrender  it.,  We,  sir,  are  the  supporters 
of  the.  President,  We  regret  that  we  cannot  support  General 
Jackson  also.  The  gentleman's  liberality  is  more  comprehensive 
than  ours.  I  approve,  with  all  my  heart,  of  the  restoration  of 
Pcntacola.  I  think  St.  Marks  ought,  perhaps,  to  have  been  also 
jestored;  but  I  say  this  with  doubt  and  diffidence.  That  the 
President  thought  th£  seizure  of  the  Spanish  posts'  was  an  act' 
of  war,  is  manifest  from  his  opening  message,  in  which  he  says 
that,  to  have  retained  them,  would  have  changed  our  rela 
tions  with  Spain,  to  do  which  the  power  of  the  executive  was 
incompetent,  Congress  alone  possessing  it.  The  President  has, 
in  this  instance,  deserved  well  of  his  country.  He  has  taken  the 
only  course  which  he  could  have  pursued,  consistent  with  the 
constitution  of  the  land.  And  he  defied  the  gentleman  to  make 
good  'both  his  positions^  that  the  General  was  right  in  taking,, 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR,  107 

•»•'«*'•'"  >*'"•<  .•'.  < 

and  the  President  right  in  giving  up  the  posts.  (Mr.  Holme* 
explained.  We  took  these  posts,  he  said,  to  keep  them  from  th« 
hands  of  the  enemy,  and,  in  restoring  them,  made  it  a  condition 
that  Spain  should  not  let  our  enemy  have  them.  We  said  tot 
her,  here  is  your  dagger ;  we  found  it  in  the  hands  of  our  enemy, 
and,  having  wrested  it  from  him,  we  restore  it  to  you.  in  the* 
hope  that  you  will  take  better  care  of  it  for  the  future.)  Mr.  C* 
proceeded.  The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  was  truly  un 
fortunate;  fact  or  principle  was  always  against  him.  The  Spa 
nish  posts  were  not  in  the  possession  of  the  enemy.  One  old! 
InJian  only  was  found  in  the  Barancas,  none  in  Pensacola,  nono 
in  St.  Maries.  There  was  not  even  the  color  of  a  threat  of  In 
dian  occupation  as  it  regards  Pensacola  and  the  Barancas.— 
F  .:nsacn!a  was  to  be  restored  unconditionally,  and  might,  there 
fore,  immediately  have  come  into  the  possession  of -the  Indians, 
if  they  had  the  power  and  the  will  to  take  it.  The  gentle 
man  was  in  a  dilemma,  from  which,  there  was  no  escape.  He 
gave  up  General  Jackson  when  he  supported  the  President,  and 
ga've  up  the  President  when  he  supported  General  Jackson.  Mr. 
0.  said  that  he  rejoiqed  to  have  seen 'the  President  manifesting, 
by 'the  restoration  of  .Pensacola,  his  devotedness  to  the  constitu 
tion.  When  the  whole  country  was  ringing  with  plaudits  for  its 
capture,  he  saidj  and  he  said  alone,  in  the  limited  circle  in  which 
h«  moved,  that  the  President  must  surrender  it;  that  he  could 
not  hold  it.  It  was  not  his  intention,  he  said,  to  inquire  whether 
the  army  was  or  was  not  constitutionally  marched  into  Florida. 
it  was  not  a  clear  question,  and  he  was  inclined  to  think  that 
the  express  authority  of  Congress  ought  to  have  been  asked. 
The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  would  allow  him  to  re 
fer  to  a  part  of  the  correspondence  at  Ghent  different  from 
that  which  he  'had  quoted.  He  would  find  the  condition  of  the 
Indians  there  accurately  defined.  And  it  was  widely  variant 
from  the  gentleman's  ideas  on  this  subject.  The  Indians,  ac 
cording  to  the  statement  of  the  American  commissioners  at 
Ghent,  inhabiting  the  United  States,  have  a  qualified  sovereignty 
only,  the  supreme  sovereignty  residing  in  the  government  of  the 
United  States.  They  live  under  their  own  laws  and  customs, 
may  inhabit  and  hunt  their  lands;  but.  acknowledge  the  protec 
tion  of  the  United  States,  and  have  no  right  to  sell  their  lands 
but  to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  Foreign  powers 
or  foreign  subjects  have  no  right  to  maintain  any  intercourse 
with  them,  without  our  permission.  They  are  not,  therefore,  in 
dependent  nations,  as  the  gentleman  supposed.  Maintaining 
the  relation  described  with  them,  we  must  allow  a  similar  rela 
tion  to  exist  between  Spain  and  the  Indians  residing  within  her 
dominions.  She  must  be,  therefore,  regarded  as  the  sovereign 
of  Florida,  and  we  are  accordingly  treating  with  her  for  the  pur 
chase  of  it.  In  strictness,  then,  we  ought  first  to  have  demanded 
of  her  to  restrain  the  Indians,  and,  that  failing,  we  should  have 
demanded  a  right  of  passage  for  our  army.  But,  if  the  Preei- 


108  ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. 

'•':••(    •»  *  »    '    » ..'  •  ?y«.     •'.*'- 

dent  had  the  power  to  march  an  army  into  Florida  without  con 
sulting  Spain,  and  without  the  authority  of  Congress,  he  had  no 
power  to  authorize  any  act  of  hostility  against  her.  If  the  gen 
tleman  had  even  succeeded  in  showing  that  an  authority  was 
conveyed  by  the  executive  to  General  Jackson  to  take  the  Spa 
nish  posts,  he  would  only  have  established  that  unconstitutional 
orders  had  been  given,  and  thereby  transferred  the  disapproba 
tion  from  the  military  officer  to  the  executive.  But  no  such  or 
ders  were,  in  truth,  given.  The  President  had' acted  in  con 
formity  to  the  constitution,  when  he  forbade  the  attack  of  a 
Spanish  fort,  and  when,  in  the  same  spirit,  he  surrendered  the 
posts  themselves. 

He  would  not  trespass  much  longer  upon  the  time  of  the 
committee;  but  he  trusted  he  should  be  indulged  with  some  few 
reflections  upon  the  danger  of  permitting  the  conduct  on  which 
it  had  been  his  painful  duty  to  animadvert,  to  pas;?,  without  a 
eolemn  expression  of  the  disapprobation  of  this  House.  Recal 
to  your  recollection,  said  he,  the  free  nations  which  have  gone 
before  us.  Where  are  they  now? 

Gone  glintmeflng  through  the  dream  of  thinrs  that  were, 
A  school  boy's  tale,  the  wonder  of  an.  hour. 

And  how  have  they  lost  their  liberties?  If  we  'could  transport, 
ourselves  back  to  the  ages  xvhen  Greece  and  Rome  flourished 
in  their  greatest  prosperity,  and,  mingling  in  the  throng,  should 
ask  a  Grecian  if  he  dkl  not  fear  that  some  daring  military  chief 
tain,  covered  with  glory,  some  Philip  or  Alexander,  would  one 
day  overthrow  the  liberties  of  his  country?  the  confident  and 
indignant  Grecian  would  exclaim,  no!  no!  we  have  nothing  to 
fear  from  our  heroes;  our  liberties  will  be  eternal.  If  a  Roman 
citizen  had  been  asked,  if  he  did  not  fear  that  the.  conqueror  of 
Gaul  might  establish  a  throne  upon  the  ruins  of  public  liberty, 
he  would  have  instantly  repelled  the  unjust  insinuation.  Yet 
Greece  had  fallen,  Cresar  had  passed  the  Rubicon,  and  the  pa 
triotic  arm  even  of  Brutus  could  not  preserve  the  liberties  of  his 
devoted  country!  The  celebrated  Madame  de  Stael,  in  her  last 
and  perhaps  her  best  work,  has  said,  that  in  the  very  year,  al 
most  the  very  month,  when  the  President  of  the  Directory  de 
clared  that  monarchy  would  never  more  show  its  frightful  head 
in  France,  Bonaparte,  with  his  grenadiers,  entered  the  palace  of 
St  Cloud,  and  dispersing,  with  the  bayonet,  the  deputies  of  the 
people,  deliberating  on  the  affairs  of  the  state,  laid  the  foundation 
of  that  vast  fabric  of  despotism  which  overshadowed  all  Europe. 
He  hoped  not  to  be  misunderstood;  he  was  far  from  intimating 
that  General  Jackson  cherished  any  designs  inimical  to  the  liber 
ties  of  the  country.  He  believed  his  intentions  to  be  pure  and 
patriotic.  He  thanked  God  that  he  would  not,  but  he  thanked 
him  still  more  that  he  could  not,  if  he  would,  overturn  the  liber 
ties  of  the  republic.  But  precedents,  if  bad,  were  fraught  with 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR.  109 

the  most  dangerous  consequences.  Man  has  been  described,  bv 
some  of  those  who  have  treated  of  his  nature,  as  a  bundle  of 
habits.  The  definition  was  much  truer  when  applied  to  govern 
ments.  Precedents  were  their  habits.  There  was  one  important 
difference  between  the  formation  of  habits  by  an  individual  and 
by  governments.  He  contracts  it  only  after  frequent  repetition. 
A  single  instance  fixes  the  habit  and  determines  the  direction  of 
governments.  Against  the  alarming  doctrine  of  unlimited  dis 
cretion  in  our  military  commanders,  when  applied  even  to  prison 
ers  of  war,  he  must  enter  his  protest.  It  began  upon  them ;  it 
would  end  on  us.  He  hoped  our  happy  form  of  government  was 
destined  to  be  perpetual.  But,  if  it  were  to  be  preserved,  it  must 
be  by  the  practice  of  virtue,  by  justice,  by  moderation,  by  mag 
nanimity,  by  greatness  of  soul,  by  keeping  a  watchful  and  steady 
eye  on  the  executive;  and,  above  all,  by  holding  to  a  strict  ac 
countability  the  military  branch  of  the  public  force. 

We  are  fighting,  said  Mr.  C.,  a  great  moral  battle,  for  the 
benefit  not  only  of  our  country,  but  of  all  mankind.  The  eyes  of 
the  whole  world  are  in  fixed  attention  upon  us.  One,  and  the 
largest  portion  of  it,  is  gazing  with  contempt,  with  jealousy,  and 
with  envy  ;  the  other  portion,  with  hope,  with  confidence,  and 
with  affection.  Every  where  the  black  cloud  of  legitimacy  is 
suspended  over  the  world,  save  only  one  bright  spot,  which 
breaks  out  from  the  political  hemisphere  of  the  west,  to  enlighten 
and  animate,  and  gladden  the  human  heart.  Obscure  that,  by 
the  downfall  of  liberty  here,  and  all  mankind  are  enshrouded  in  a 
pall  of  universal  darkness.  To  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  belongs  the 
high  privilege  of  transmitting,  unimpaired,  to  posterity,  the  fair 
character  and  liberty  of  our  country.  Do  you  expect  to  execute 
this  high  trust,  by  trampling,  or  suffering  to  be  trampled  down, 
law,  justice,  the  constitution,  and  the  rights  of  other  people  1  By 
exhibiting  examples  of  inhumanity,  and  cruelty  and  ambition? 
When  the  minions  of  despotism  heard,  in  Europe,  of  the  seizure 
of  Pensacola,  how  did  they  chuckle,  and  chide  the  admirers  of 
our  institutions,  tauntingly  pointing  to  the  demonstration  of  a 
spirit  of  injustice  and  aggrandizement  made  by  our  country,  in 
the  midst  of  amicable  negotiation.  Behold,  said  they,  the  conduct 
of  those  who  are  constantly  reproaching  kings.  You  saw  how 
those  admirers  were  astounded  and  hung  their  heads.  You  saw 
too,  when  that  illustrious  man,  who  presides  over  us,  adopted  his 
pacific,  moderate  and  just  course,  how  they  once  more  lifted  up 
their  heads  with  exultation  and  delight  beaming  in  their  counte 
nances.  And  you  saw  how  those  minions  themselves  were  finally 
compelled  to  unite  in  the  general  praises  bestowed  upon  our  gov 
ernment.  Beware  how  you  forfeit  this  exalted  character.  Be 
ware  how  you  give  a  fatal  sanction,  in  this  infant  period  of  our 
republic,  scarcely  yet  two  score  years  old,  to  military  insubordin 
ation.  Remember  that  Greece  had  her  Alexander,  Rome  her 
Caesar,  England  her  Cromwell,  France  her  Bonaparte,  and  that 
10 


110  ON  THE  SSM1NOLE  WAR. 

if  we  would  escape  the  rock  on  which  they  split  we  must  avoid 
their  errors. 

How  different  has  been  the  treatment  of  General  Jackson,  and 
that  modest  but  heroic  young  man,  a  native  of  one  of  the  small 
est  states  in  the  Union,  who  achieved  for  his  country,  on  Lake 
Erie,  one  of  the  most  glorious  victories  of  the  late  war.  In  a 
moment  of  passion  he  forgot  himself,  and  offered  an  act  of  violence 
which  was  repented  of  as  soon  as  perpetrated.  He  was  tried, 
and  suffered  the  judgment  to  be  pronounced  by  his  peers.  Pub 
lic  justice  was  thought  not  even  then  to  be  satisfied.  The  press 
and  Congress  took  up  the  subject.  My  honorable  friend  "from 
Virginia  (Mr.  Johnson)  the  faithful  and  consistent  sentinel  of 
the  law  and  of  the  constitution,  disapproved  in  that  instance,  as 
he  does  in  this,  and  moved  an  inquiry.  The  public  mind  remain 
ed  agitated  and  unappeased  until  the  recent  atonement  so  honor 
ably  made  by  the  gallant  commodore.  And  was  there  to  be  a 
distinction  between  the  officers  of  the  two  branches  of  the  public- 
service?  Are  former  services,  however  eminent,  to  preclude 
even  inquiry  into  recent  misconduct  ?  Is  there  to  be  no  limit,  no 
prudential  bounds  to  the  national  gratitude  ?  He  was  not  dis 
posed  to  censure  the  President  for  not  ordering  a,  court  of  inquiry 
or  a  general  court  martial.  Perhaps,  impelled  by  a  sense  of 
gratitude,  he  determined  by  anticipation  to  extend  to  the  General 
that  pardon  which  he  had  the  undoubted  right  to  grant  after 
sentence.  Let  us,  said  Mr.  C.,  not  shrink  from  our  duty.  Let 
us  assert  our  constitutional  powers,  and  vindicate  the  instrument 
from  military  violation. 

He  hoped  gentlemen  would  deliberately  survey  the  awful 
isthmus  on  which  we  stand.  They  may  bear  down  all  opposi 
tion  ;  they  may  even  vote  the  General  the  public  thanks ;  they 
may  carry  him  triumphantly  through  this  house.  But,  if  they 
do,  in  my  humble  judgment,  it  will  be  a  triumph  of  the  principle 
of  insubordination — a  triumph  of  the  military  over  the  civil  au 
thority — a  triumph  over  the  powers  of  this  house — a  triumph 
over  the  constitution  of  the  land.  And  he  prayed  most  devoutly 
to  heaven,  that  it  might  not  prove,  in  its  ultimate  effects  and 
consequences,  a  triumph  over  the  liberties  of  the  people. 


ON   THE  TARIFF.  HI 


ON  THE   TARIFF. 

Speech  on  the  Tariff,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  2Qth  April,  1820. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN, 

Whatever  may  be  the  value  of  my  opinions  on  the  interesting 
subject  now  before  us,  they  have  not  been  hastily  formed.  It 
may  possibly  be  recollected  by  some  gentlemen,  that  I  expressed 
them  when  the  existing  tariff  was  adopted ;  and  that  I  then  urg 
ed,  that  the  period  of  the  termination  of  the  war,  during  which 
the  manufacturing  industry  of  the  country  had  received  a  pfcw- 
erful  spring,  was  precisely  that  period  when  government  was 
alike  impelled,  by  duty  and  interest,  to  protect  it  against  the  free 
admission  of  foreign  fabrics,  consequent  upon  a  state  of  peace. 
I  insisted,  on  that  occasion,  that  a  less  measure  of  protection 
would  prove  more  efficacious,  at  that  time,  than  one  of  greater 
extent  at  a  future  day.  My  wishes  prevailed  only  in  part ;  and. 
we  are  now  called  upon  to  decide  whether  we  will  correct  the 
error  which,  I  think,  we  then  committed. 

In  considering  the  subject,  the  first  important  inquiry  that  we 
should  make  is,  whether  it  be  desirable  that  such  a  portion  of  the 
capital  and  labor  of  the  country  should  be  employed,  in  the  busi 
ness  of  manufacturing  as  would  furnish  a  supply  of  our  neces 
sary  wants?  Since  the  first  colonization  of  America,  the  princi 
pal  direction  of  the  labor  and  capital  of  the  inhabitants  has  been 
to  produce  raw  materials  for  the  consumption  or  fabrication  of 
foreign  nations.  We  have  always  had,  in  great  abundance,  the 
means  of  subsistence,  but  we  have  derived  chiefly  from  other 
countries  our  clothes,  and  the  instruments  of  defence.  Except 
during  those  interruptions  of  commerce  arising  from  a  state  of 
war,  or  from  measures  adopted  for  vindicating  our  commercial 
rights,  we  have  experienced  no  very  great  inconvenience  here 
tofore  from  this  mode  of  supply.  The  limited  amount  of  our  sur 
plus  produce,  resulting  from  the  smallness  of  our  numbers,  and 
the  long  and  arduous  convulsions  of  Europe,  secured  us  good 
markets  for  that  surplus  in  her  ports  or  those  of  her  colonies. 
But  those  convulsions  have  now  ceased,  and  our  population  has 
reached  nearly  ten  millions.  A  new  epoch  has  arisen ;  and  it 
becomes  us  deliberately  to  contemplate  our  own  actual  condition, 
and  the  relations  which  are  likely  to  exist  between  us  and  the 
other  parts  of  the  world.  The  actual  state  of  our  population, 
and  the  ratio  of  its  progressive  increase  when  compared  with  the 
ratio  of  the  increase  of  the  population  of  the  countries  which 
have  hitherto  consumed  our  raw  produce,  seem,  to  me,  alone  to 
demonstrate  the  necessity  of  diverting  some  portion  of  our  in 
dustry  from  its  accustomed  channel.  We  double  our  population 
in  about  the  term  of  twenty-five  years.  If  there  be  no  change 
in  the  mode  of  exerting  our  industry,  we  shall  double,  during  the 


112  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

same  term,  the  amount  of  our  exportable  produce.  Europe,  in 
cluding  such  of  her  colonies  as  we  have  free  access  to,  taken  al 
together,  does  not  duplicate  her  population  in  a  shorter  term, 
probably,  than  one  hundred  years.  The  ratio  of  the  increase  of 
her  capacity  of  consumption,  therefore,  is,  to  that  of  our  capacity 
of  production,  as  one  is  to  four.  And  it  is  manifest,  from  the  sim 
ple  exhibition  of  the  powers  of  the  consuming  countries,  com 
pared  with  those  of  the  supplying  country,  that  the  former  are 
'  inadequate  to  the  latter.  It  is  certainly  true,  that  a  portion  of 
the  mass  of  our  raw  produce,  which  we  transmit  to  her,  reverts 
to  us  in  a  fabricated  form,  and  that  this  return  augments  with 
our  increasing  population.  This  is,  however,  a  very  inconside 
rable  addition  to  her  actual  ability  to  afford  a  market  for  the  pro 
duce  of  our  industry. 

I  believe  that  we  are  already  beginning  to  experience  the  want 
of  capacity  in  Europe  to  consume  our  surplus  produce.  Take 
the  great  articles  of  cotton,  tobacco,  and  bread-stuffs.  For  the 
latter  we  have  scarcely  any  foreign  demand.  And  is  there  not 
reason  to  believe  that  we  have  reached,  if  we  have  not  passed, 
the  maximum  of  the  foreign  demand  for  the  other  two  articles  ? 
Considerations  connected  with  the  cheapness  of  cotton,  as  a  raw 
material,  and  the  facility  with  which  it  can  be  fabricated,  will 
probably  make  it  be  more  and  more  used  as  a  substitute  for  oth 
er  materials.  But,  after  you  allow  to  the  demand  for  it,  the  ut 
most  extension  of  which  it  is  susceptible,  it  is  yet  quite  limited — 
limited  by  the  number  of  persons  who  use  it,  by  their  wants,  and 
their  ability  to  supply  them.  If  we  have  not  reached;  therefore, 
the  maximum  of  the  foreign  demand,  (as  I  believe  we  have)  we 
must  soon  fully  satisfy  it.  With  respect  to  tobacco,  that  article 
affording  an  enjoyment  not  necessary,  as  food  and  clothes  are,  to 
human  existence,  the  foreign  demand  for  it  is  still  more  precari 
ous,  and  I  apprehend  that  we  have  already  passed  its  limits.  It 
appears  to  me,  then,  that,  if  we  consult  our  interest  merely,  we 
ought  to  encourage  home  manufactures.  But  there  were  other 
motives  to  recommend  it,  of  not  less  importance. 

The  wants  of  man  may  be  classed  under  three  great  heads — 
food,  raiment,  and  defence.  They  are  felt  alike  in  the  state  of 
barbarism  and  of  civilization.  He  must  be  defended  against  the 
ferocious  beasts  of  prey  in  the  one  condition,  and  against  the 
ambition,  violence,  and  injustice,  incident  to  the  other.  If  he 
seeks  to  obtain  a  supply  of  those  wants  without  giving  an  equi 
valent,  he  is  a  beggar  or  a  robber ;  if,  by  promising  an  equiva 
lent  which  he  cannot  give,  he  is  fraudulent ;  and  if,  by  a  com 
merce,  in  which  there  is  perfect  freedom  on  his  side,  whilst  he 
meets  with  nothing  but  restrictions  on  the  other,  he  submits  to  an 
unjust  and  degrading  inequality.  What  is  true  of  individuals  is 
equally  so  of  nations.  The  country,  then,  which  relies  upon  for 
eign  nations  for  either  of  those  great  essentials,  is  not,  in  fact,  inde 
pendent.  Nor  is  it  any  consolation  for  our  dependence  upon  other 
nations,  that  they  also  are  dependent  upon  us,  even  were  it  true. 


ON  THE  TARIFF;.  us 

Every  nation  should  anxiously  endeavor  to  establish  its  absolute 
independence,  and  consequently  be  able  to  feed  and  clothe  and 
defend  itsell.  If  it  rely  upon  a  foreign  supply,  that  may  be  cut 
oif  by  the  caprice  of  the  nation  yielding  it,  by  war  with  it,  or  even 
by  war  with  other  nations,  it  cannot  be  independent.  But  it  is 
not  true  that  any  other  nations  depend  upon  us  in  a  degree  any 
tiling  like  equaf  to  that  of  our  dependence  upon  them  for  the 
great  necessaries  to  which  I  have  referred.  Every  other  nation 
seeks  to  supply  itself  with  them  from  its  own  resources ;  and,  so 
strong  is  the  desire  which  they  feel  to  accomplish  this  purpose, 
that  they  exclude  the  cheaper  ioreign  article  for  the  dearer  home 
production.  Witness  the  English  policy  in  regard  to  corn.  So 
selfish,  in  this  respect,  is  the  conduct  of  other  powers,  that,  in 
»ome  instances,  they  even  prohibit  the  produce  of  the  industry 
of  their  own  colonies,  when  it  comes  into  competition  with  the 
produce  of  the  parent  country.  All  other  countries  but  our  own 
exclude,  by  high  duties,  or  absolute  prohibitions,  whatever  they 
can  respectively  produce  within  themselves.  The  truth  is.  and 
it  is  in  vajn  to  disguise  it,  that  we  are  a  sort  of  independent  col" 
onies  of  E'ngland — politically  free,  commercially  slaves.  Gentle 
men  tell  us  of  the  advantages  of  a  free  exchange  of  the  produce 
of  the  world.  But  they  tell  us  of  what  has  never  existed,  does 
not  exist,  and  perhaps  never  will  exist.  They  invoke  us  to  give 
perfect  freedom  on  our  side,  whilst  in  the  ports  of  every  other  na 
tion,  we  are  met  with  a  code  of  odious  restrictions,  shutting  out 
entirely  a  great  part  of  our  produce,  and  letting  in  only  so  much 
as  they  cannot  possibly  do  without.  I  will  hereafter  examine 
their  favorite  maxim,  of  leaving  things  to  themselves,  more  par 
ticularly.  At  present  I  will  only  say  that  I  too  am  a  friend  to  free 
trade,  but  it  must  be  a  free  trade  of  perfect  reciprocity.  If  the 
governing  consideration  were  cheapness ;  if  national  independence 
were  to  weigh  nothing;  if  honor  nothing;  why  not  subsidize  foreign 
powers  to  defend  us  ?  why  not  hire  Swiss  or  Hessian  mercenaries 
to  protect  us  ?  why  not  get  our  arms  of  all  kinds,  as  we  do,  in  part, 
the  blankets  and  clothing  of  our  soldiers,  from  abroad?  We  should 
probably  consult  economy  by  these  dangerous  expedients. 

But,  say  gentlemen,  there  are  to  the  manufacturing  system 
some  inherent  objections,  which  should  induce  us  to  avoid  its 
introduction  into  this  country:  and  we  are  warned  by  the  exam 
ple  of  England,  by  her  pauperism,  by  the  vices  of  her  popula 
tion,  her  wars,  &c.  It  would  Ke  a  strange  order  of  Providence, 
if  it  were  true,  that  He  should  create  necessary  and  indispensable 
wants,  and  yet  should  reader  us  unable  to  supply  them  without 
the  degradation  or  contamination  of  our  species. 

Pauperism  is,  in  general,  the  effect  of  an  overflowing  popu 
lation.  Manufactures  may  undoubtedly  produce  a  redundant 
population;  but  so  may  commerce,  and  so  may. agriculture.  In 
this  respect  they  are  alike;  and,  from  whatever  cause  the  dispro 
portion  of  a  population  to  the  subsisting  faculty  of  a  country 


114  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

may  proceed,  ita  effect  of  pauperism  is  the  same.  Many  parts 
of  Asia  would  exhibit,  perhaps,  as  afflicting  effects  of  an  extreme 
prosecution  of  the  agricultural  system,  as  England  can  possi 
bly  furnish,  respecting  the  manufacturing.  It  was,  not,  how 
ever,  fair  to  argue  from  these  extreme  cases,  against  either  the 
one  system  or  the  other.  There  are  abuses  incident  to  every 
branch  of  industry,  to  every  profession.  It  would  not  be  thought 
very  just  or  wise'to  arraign  the  honorable  professions  of  law  and 
physic,  because  the  one  produces  the  pettifogger,  and  the  other 
the  quack.  Even  in  England  it  haa  been  established,  by  the 
diligent  search  of  Colquhoun,  from  the  most  authentic  evidence, 
the  judicial  records  of  the  country,  that  the  instances  of  crime 
were  much  more  numerous  in  the  agricultural  than  in  the  manu 
facturing  districts;  thus  proving  that  the  cause  of  wretchedness 
and  vice,  in  that  country,  was  to  be  sought  for,  not  in  this  or  tha), 
system,  so  much  as  in  the  fact  of  the  density  of  ita  population. 
France  resembles  this  country  more  than  England,  in  respect  to 
the  employments  of  her  population;  and  we  do  not  find  that 
there  is  any  thing  in  the  condition  of  the  manufacturing  portion 
of  it  which  ought  to  dissuade  ua  from  the  introduction  of  it  into 
our  own  country.  But  even  France  has  not  that  great  security 
against  the  abuses  of  the  manufacturing  system,  against  the  ef 
fects  of  too  great  a  density  of  population,  which  we  possess  in 
our  waste  lands.  Whilst  this  resource  exists,  we  have  nothing 
to  apprehend  Do  capitalists  give  too  low  wages — are  the  la 
borers  too  crowded,  and  in  danger  of  starving — the  unsettled 
lands  will  draw  off  the  redundancy,  and  leave  the  others  better 
provided  for.  If  an  unsettled  province,  such  as  Texas,  for  ex 
ample,  could,  by  some  convulsion  of  nature,  be  wafted  along 
side  of,  and  attached  to,  the  island  of  Great  Britain,  the  instan 
taneous  effect  would  be,  to  draw  off  the  redundant  portion  of  the 
population,  and  to  render  more  comfortable  both  the  emigrants 
and  those  whom  they  would  leave  behind.  I  am  aware  that, 
whilst  the  public  domain  is  an  acknowledged  security  against 
the  abuses  of  the  manufacturing,  or  any  other  system,  it  consti 
tutes,  at  the  same  time,  an  impediment,  in  the  opinion  of  some, 
to  the  success  of  manufacturing  industry,  by  its  tendency  to  pre 
vent  the  reduction  of  the  wages  of  labor.  Those  who  urge  this 
objection  have  their  eyes  too  much  fixed  on  the  ancient  system 
of  manufacturing,  when  manual  labor  was  the  principal  instru 
ment  which  it  employed.  During  the  last  half  century,  since 
the  inventions  of  Arkwright,  and  the  long  train  of  improvements 
which  followed,  the  labor  of  machinery  is  principally  used.  I 
have  understood,  from  sources  of  information  which  I  believe  to 
be  accurate,  that  the  combined  force  of  all  the  machinery  em 
ployed  by  Great  Britain,  in  manufacturing,  is  equal  to  the  labor 
of  one  hundred  in  illions  of  able-bodied  men.  If  we  suppose  the 
Aggregate  of  the  labor  of  all  the  individuals  which  she  employs 
in  thatf  branch  of  industry  to  be  equal  to  the  united  labor  of  two 
millions  of  able-bodied  men,  (and  I  should  think  it  does  not 


ON  THE  TARIFF.  115 

exceed  it,)  machine  labor  will  stand  to  manual  labor,  in  the 
oroportion  of  one  hundred  to  two.  There  cannot  be  a  doubt 
that  we  have  skill  and  enterprize  enough  to  command  the  re 
quisite  amount  of  machine  power. 

There  are,  too,  some  checks  to  emigration  from  the  settled 
parts  of  our  country  to  the  waste  lands  of  the  west.    Distance  is 
ane^  and  it  is  every  day  becoming  greater  and  greater.     There 
3xists,  also,  a  natural  repugnance  (felt  less,  it  is  true,  in  the  Uni 
ted  States  than  elsewhere,  but  felt  even  here)  to  abandoning  the 
ilace  of  our  nativity.     Women  and  children,  who  could  not 
nigrate,  and  who  would  be  comparatively  idle  if  manufactures 
tid  not  exist,  may  be  profitably  employed  in  them.     This  is  a 
reiy  great  benefit.     I  witnessed  the  advantage  resulting  from 
,he  employment  of  this  description  of  our  population,  in  a  vieit 
which  I  lately  made  to  the  Waltham  manufactory,  near  Boston. 
There,  some  hundreds  of  girls  and  boys  were  occupied  in  sepa 
rate  apartments.     The  greatest  order,  neatness,  and  apparent 
comfort,   reigned   throughout  the  whole   establishment.     The 
daughters  of  respectable  farmers — in  one  instance  I  remember 
the  daughter  of  a  Senator  in  the  State  Legislature — were  use 
fully  employed.     They  would  come  down  to  the  manufactory, 
remain  perhaps  some  months,  and  return,  with  their  earnings,  to 
their  families,  to  assist  them  throughout  the  year.     But  one  in 
stance  had  occurred,  I  was  informed  by  the  intelligent  manager, 
of  doubtful  conduct  on  the  part  of  any  of  the  females,  and,  after 
she  was  dismissed,  there  was  reason  to  believe  that  injustice  had 
been  done  her.     Suppose  that  establishment  to  be  destroyed, 
what  would  become  of  all  the  persons  who  are  there  engaged 
so  beneficially  to  themselves,  and  so  usefully  to  the  State?     Can 
it  be  doubted  that,  if  the  crowds  of  little  mendicant  boys  and 
girls  who  infest  this  edifice,  and  assail  us,  every  day,  at  its  very 
thresholds,  as  AVC  come  in  and  go  out,  begging  for  a  cent,  were 
employed  in  some  manufacturing  establishment,  it  would  be  bet 
ter  for  them  and  the  city?     Those  who  object  to  the  manufac 
turing  system,  should  recollect,  that  constant  occupation  is  the 
best  security  for  innocence  arid  virtue,  and  that  idleness  is  the 
parent  of  vice  and  crime.     They  should  contemplate  the  labor 
ing  poor  with  employment,  and  ask  themselves  what  would  be 
their  condition  without  it.     If  there  are  instances  of  hard  task 
masters  among  the  manufacturers,  so  also  are  there  in  agricul 
ture.     The  cause  is  to  be  sought  for,  not  in  the  nature  of  this  or 
that  system,  but  in  the  nature  of  man.    If  there  are  particular 
species  of  unhealthy  employment  in  manufactures,  so  there  are 
in  agriculture  also.     There  has  been  an  idle  attempt  to  ridicule 
the  manufacturing  system,  and  we  have  heard  the  expression 
"  spinning  jenny  tenure."    It  is  one  of  the  noblest  invention* 
of  human  skill.    It  has  diffused  comforts  among  thousands  who, 
without  it,  would  never  have  enjoyed  them;  and  millions  yet 
unborn  will  bless  the  man  by  whom  it  was  invented.     Three  im 
portant  inventions  have  distinguished  the  last  half  century,  each 


116  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

of  which,  if  it  had  happened  at  long  intervals  of  time  from  the 
other,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  constitute  an  epoch  in  the 
progress  of  the  useful  arts.  The  first  was  that  of  Arkwright  j 
and  our  own  country  was  entitled  to  the  merit  of  the  other  two. 
The  world  is  indebted  to  Whitney  for  the  one,  and  to  Fulton  for 
the  other.  Nothing  is  secure  against  the  shafts  of  ridicule. — 
What  would  be  thought  of  a  man  who  should  speak  of  a  cotton- 
gin  tenure,  or  a  steam-boat  tenure? 

In  one  respect  there  is  a  great  difference  in  favor  of  manufac 
tures,  when  compared  with  agriculture.  It  is  the  rapidity  with 
which  the  whole  manufacturing  community  avail  themselves  of 
an  improvement.  It  is  instantly  communicated  and  put  in  ope 
ration.  There  is  an  avidity  for  improvement  in  the  one  system, 
an  aversion  from  it  in  the  other.  The  habits  of  generation  after 
generation  pass  down  the  long  track  of  time  in  perpetual  succes 
sion,  without  the  slightest  change  in  agriculture.  The  plough 
man  who  fastens  his  plough  to  the  tails  of  his  cattle,  will  not  own 
that  there  is  any  other  mode  equal  to  his.  An  agricultural  people 
will  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  other  communities,  who  have 
made  the  greatest  progress  in  husbandry,  without  advancing  in 
the  slightest  degree.  Many  parts  of  our  country  are  one  hun 
dred  years  in  advance  of  Sweden  in  the  cultivation  and  im 
provement  of  the  soil. 

It  is  objected,  that  the  effect  of  the  encouragement  of  home 
manufactures,  by  the  proposed  tariff,  will  be  to  diminish  the  reve 
nue  from  the  customs.  The  amount  of  the  revenue  from  that 
source  will  depend  upon  the  amount  of  importations,  and  the 
measure  of  these  will  be  the  value  of  the  exports  from  this  coun 
try.  The  quantity  of  the  exportable  produce  will  depend  upon 
the  foreign  demand;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  under  any 
distribution  of  the  labor  and  capital  of  this  country  from  the 
greater  allurements  which  agriculture  presents  than  any  other 
species  of  industry,  there  would  be  always  a  quantity  of  its  pro 
duce  sufficient  to  satisfy  that  demand.  If  there  be  a  diminution 
in  the  ability  of  foreign  nations  to  consume  our  raw  produce,  in 
the  proportion  of  our  diminished  consumption  of  theirs,  under  the 
operation  of  this  system,  that  will  be  compensated  by  the  substi 
tution  of  a  home  to  a  foreign  market,  in  the  same  proportion.  It 
is  true  that  we  cannot  remain  in  the  relation  of  seller,  only 
to  foreign  powers,  for  any  length  of  time;  but  if,  as  I  have  no 
doubt,  our  agriculture  will  continue  to  supply,  as  far  as  it  can 
profitably,  to  the  extent  of  the  limits  of  foreign  demand,  we  shall 
receive  not  only  in  return  many  of  the  articles  on  which  the 
tariff  operates,  for  our  own  consumption,  but  they  may  also  form 
the  objects  of  trade  with  South  America  and  other  powers,  and 
our  comforts  may  be  multiplied  by  the  importation  of  other  arti 
cles.  Diminished  consumption,  in  consequence  of  the  augmen 
tation  of  duties,  does  not  necessarily  imply  diminished  revenue. 
The  increase  of  the  duty  may  compensate  the  decrease  in  the  con 
sumption,  and  give  you  as  large  a  revenue  as  you  before  possessed^ 


ON  THE  TARIFF.  117 

Can  any  one  doubt  the  impolicy  of  government  renting  solely 
xipon  the  precarious  resource  of  such  a  revenue  ?  It  is  constant 
ly  fluctuating.  It  tempts  us.  by  its  enormous  amount,  at  one 
time,  into  extravagant  expenditure ;  and  we  are  then  driven,  by 
its  sudden  and  unexpected  depression,  into  the  opposite  extreme. 
We  are  seduced  by  its  nattering  promises  into  expenses  which 
we  might  avoid;  and  we  are  afterwards  constrained,  by  its 
treachery,  to  avoid  expenses  which  we  ought  to  make.  It  is  a 
system  under  which  there  is  a  sort  of  perpetual  war,  between 
the  interest  of  the  government  and  the  interest  of  the  people. 
Large  importations  fill  the  coffers  of  government,  and  empty  the 
pockets  of  the  people.  Small  importations  imply  prudence  on 
the  part  of  the  people,  and  leave  the  treasury  empty.  In  war 
the  revenue  disappears ;  in  peace  it  is  unsteady.  On  such  a 
system  the  government  will  not  be  able  much  longer  exclusively 
to  rely.  We  all  anticipate  that  we  shall  have  shortly  to  resort 
to  some  additional  supply  cf  revenue  within  ourselves.  I  Was 
opposed  to  the  total  repeal  of  the  internal  revenue.  I  would 
have  preserved  certain  parts  of  it  at  least,  to  be  ready  for  emer 
gencies  such  as  now  exist.  And  I  am,  for  one,  ready  to  exclude 
foreign  spirits  altogether,  and  substitute  for  the  revenue  levied  on 
them  a  tax  upon  the  spirits  made  within  the  country.  No  other 
nation  lets  in  so  much  of  foreign  spirits  as  we  do.  By  the  en 
couragement  of  home  industry  you  Avill  lay  a  basis  of  internal 
taxation,  when  it  gets  strong,  that  will  be  steady  and  uniform, 
yielding  alike  in  peace  and  in  war.  We  do  not  derive  our  abili 
ty  from  abroad,  to  pay  taxes.  That  depends  upon  our  weaUh 
and  our  industry ;  and  it  is  the  same  whatever  may  be  the  form 
of  levying  the  public  contributions. 

But  it  is  urged,  that  you  tax  other  interests  of  the  state  to  sus 
tain  manufacturers.  The  business  of  manufacturing,  if  encour 
aged,  will  be  open  to  all.  It  is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  particular 
individuals,  who  may  happen  to  be  engaged  in  it,  that  we  pro 
pose  to  foster  it ;  but  it  is  lor  the  general  interest.  We  think  that 
it  is  necessary  to  the  comfort  and  well  being  of  society,  that  fab 
rication,  as  well  as  the  business  of  production  and  distribution, 
should  be  supported  and  taken  care  of.  Now.  if  it  be  even  true, 
that  the  price  of  the  home  fabric  will  be  somewhat  higher,  in  the 
first  instance,  than  the  rival  foreign  articles,  that  consideration 
ought  not  to  prevent  our  extending  reasonable  protection  to  the 
home  fabric.  Present  temporary  inconvenience  may  be  well 
submitted  to  for  the  sake  of  future  permanent  benefit.  If  the 
experience  of  all  other  countries  be  not  utterly  fallacious ;  if  the 
promises  of  the  manufacturing  system  be  not  absolutely  illusory, 
by  the  competition  which  will  be  elicited,  in  consequence  of  your 
parental  care,  prices  will  be  ultimately  brought  down  to  a  level 
with  that  of  the  foreign  commodity.  Now,  in  a  scheme  of  policy 
which  is  devised  for  a  nation,  we  should  not  limit  our  views  to 
its  operation,  during  a  single  year,  or  for  even  a  short  term  of 
years.  We  should  look  at  its  operation  for  -a  considerable  time, 


H8  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

and  in  war  as  well  as  in  peace.  Can  there  be  a  doubt,  thus  c*i, » 
templating  it,  that  we  shall  be  compensated  by  the  certainty 
steadiness  of  the  supply,  in  all  seasons,  and  the  ultimate  rt 
tion  of  the  price  for  any  temporary  sacrifices  we  make?  Tu  • 
the  example  of  salt,  which  the  ingenious  gentleman  from  Vir 
ginia,  (Mr.  Archer)  has  adduced.  He  says,  during  the  war  the 
price  of  that  article  rose  to  ten  dollars  per  bushel,  and  he  asks, 
if  you  would  lay  a  duty,  permanent  in  its  duration,  of  three  dol 
lars  per  bushel  to  secure  a  supply  in  war.  I  answer,  no,  I  would 
not  lay  so  high  a  duty.  That  which  is  now  proposed,  for  the 
encouragement  of  the  domestic  production,  is  only  five  cents  per 
bushel.  °In  forty  years  the  duty  would  amount  only  to  two  dol 
lars.  If  the  recurrence  of  war,  shall  be  only  after  intervals  of 
forty  years'  peace,  (and  we  may  expect  it  probably  oftener,) 
and  if,  when  it  does  come,  the  same  price  should  again  be  given, 
there  will  be  a  clear  saving  of  eight  dollars,  by  promoting  the 
domestic  fabrication.  All  society  is  an  affair  of  mutual  conces 
sion.  If  we  expect  to  derive  the  benefits  which  are  incident  to  it, 
we  must  sustain  our  reasonable  share  of  burthens.  The  great 
interests  which  it  is  intended  to  guard  and  cherish,  must  be  sup 
ported  by  their  reciprocal  action  and  reaction.  The  harmony  of 
its  parts  is  disturbed — the  discipline  which  is  necessary  to  its 
order  is  incomplete,  when  one  of  the  three  great  and  essential 
branches  of  its  industry  is  abandoned  and  unprotected.  If  you 
want  to  find  an  example  of  order,  of  freedom  from  debt,  of  econo 
my,  of  expenditure  falling  below,  rather  than  exceeding  income, 
you  will  go  to  the  well  regulated  family  of  a  farmer.  You  will 
go  to  the  house  of  such  a  man  as  Isaac  Shelby.  You  will  not 
find  him  haunting  taverns,  engaged  in  broils,  prosecuting  angry 
law-suits.  You  will  behold  every  member  of  his  family  clad 
with  the  produce  of  their  own  hands,  and  usefully  employed ; 
the  spinning-wheel  and  the  loom  in  motion  by  day  break.  With 
what  pleasure  will  his  wife  carry  you  into  her  neat  dairy,  lead 
you  into  her  store-house,  and  point  you  to  the  table  cloths,  the 
sheets,  the  counterpanes  which  lie  on  this  shelf  for  one  daughter, 
or  on  that  for  another,  all  prepared  in  advance  by  her  provident 
care  for  the  day  of  their  respective  marriages.  If  you  want  to 
see  an  opposite  example,  go  to  the  house  of  a  man  who  manufac 
tures  nothing  at  home,  whose  family  resorts  to  the  store  for  every 
thing  they  consume.  You  will  find  him  perhaps  in  the  tavern,  or 
at  the  shop  at  the  cross  roads.  He  is  engaged,  with  the  rum 
grog  on  the  table,  taking  depositions  to  make  out  some  case  of 
usury  or  fraud.  Or  perhaps  he  is  furnishing  to  his  lawyer  the 
materials  to  prepare  a  long  bill  of  injunction  in  some  intricate 
case.  The  sheriff  is  hovering  about  his  farm  to  serve  some  new 
writ.  On  court  days, — he  never  misses  attending  them — you 
will  find  him  eagerly  collecting  his  witnesses  to  defend  himself 
against  the  merchant's  and  doctor's  claims.  Go  to  his  house, 
and,  after  the  short  and  giddy  period  that  his  wife  and  daughters 
have  flirted  about  the  country  in  their  calico  and  muslin  frocks. 


ON  THE  TARIFF.  110 

what  a  scene  of  discomfort  and  distress  is  presented  to  you  there  ! 
What  the  individual  family  of  Isaac  Shelby  is,  I  wish  to  see  the 
nation  in  the  aggregate  become.  But  I  fear  we  shall  shortly 
have  to  contemplate  its  resemblance  in  the  opposite  picture.  If 
statesmen  would  carefully  observe  the  conduct  of  private  indi 
viduals  in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs,  they  would  have 
much  surer  guides,  in  promoting  the  interests  of  the  state,  than 
the  visionary  speculations  of  theoretical  writers. 

The  manufacturing  system  is  not  only  injurious  to  agriculture, 
but.  say  its  opponents,  it  is  injurious  also  to  foreign  commerce. 
We  ought  not  to  conceal  from  ourselves  our  present  actual  po 
sition  in  relation  to  other  powers.  During  the  protracted  war 
which  has  so  long  convulsed  all  Europe,  and  which  will  probab 
ly  be  succeeded  by  a  long  peace,  we  transacted  the  commercial 
business  of  other  nations,  and  largely  shared  with  England,  the 
carrying  trade  of  the  world.  Now,  every  other  nation  is  anxious 
ly  endeavoring  to  transact  its  own  business,  to  rebuild  its  marine 
and  to  foster  its  navigation.  The  consequence  of  the  former 
state  of  things  was,  that  our  mercantile  marine  and  our  commer 
cial  employment  were  enormously  disproportionate  to  the  ex 
changeable  domestic  produce  of  our  country.  And  the  result  of 
the  latter  will  be,  that,  as  the  exchanges  between  this  country 
and  other  nations  will  hereafter  consist  principally,  on  our  part, 
of  our  domestic  produce,  that  marine  and  that  employment  will 
be  brought  down  to  what  is  necessary  to  effect  those  exchanges. 
I  regret  exceedingly  this  reduction.  I  wish  the  mercantile  class 
could  enjoy  the  same  extensive  commerce  that  they  formerly  did. 
But,  if  they  cannot,  it  would  be  a  folly  to  repine  at  what  is  irre 
coverably  lost,  and  we  should  seek  rather  to  adapt  ourselves  to 
the  new  circumstances  in  which  we  find  ourselves.  If,  as  I  think, 
we  have  reached  the  maximum  of  our  foreign  demand  for  our 
three  great  staples,  cotton,  tobacco,  and  flour,  no  man  will  con 
tend  that  we  should  go  on  to  produce  more  and  more,  to  be  sent 
to  the  glutted  foreign  market,  and  consumed  by  devouring  ex 
penses,  merely  to  give  employment  to  our  tonnage  and  to  our 
foreign  commerce.  It  would  be  extremely  unwise  to  accommo 
date  our  industry  to  produce,  not  what  was  wanted  abroad ; 
but  cargoes  for  our  unemployed  ships.  I  would  give  our  for 
eign  trade  every  legitimate  encouragement,  and  extend  it  when 
ever  it  can  be  extended  profitably.  Hitherto  it  had  been  stimu 
lated  too  highly,  by  the  condition  of  the  world,  and  our  own 
policy  acting  on  that  condition.  And  we  are  reluctant  to  believe 
that  we  must  submit  to  its  necessary  abridgment.  The  habits  of 
trade ;  the  tempting  instances  of  enormous  fortunes  which  had 
been  made  by  the  successful  prosecution  of  it,  were  such  that  we 
turn  with  regret  from  its  pursuit ;  we  still  cherish  a  lingering 
hope;  we  persuade  ourselves  that  something  will  occur,  how  and 
what  it  may  be,  we  know  not,  to  revive  its  former  activity  ;  and 
we  would  push  into  every  untried  channel,  grope  through  the 
Dardanelles  into  the  Black  Sea,  to  restore  its  former  profits.  I 


120  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

repeat  it,  let  us  proclaim  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  the 
incontestible  truth,  that  our  foreign  trade  must  be  circumscribed 
by  the  altered  state  of  the  world;  and,  leaving  it  in  the  possession 
of  all  the  gains  which  it  can  now  possibly  make,  let  us  present 
motives  to  the  capital  and  labor  of  our  country  to  employ  them 
selves  in  fabrication  at  home.  There  was  no  danger  that,  by  a 
withdrawal  of  that  portion  which  is  unprofitably  employed  on 
other  objects,  and  an  application  of  it  to  fabrication,  our  agricul 
ture  would  be  too  much  cramped.  The  produce  of  it  would 
always  come  up  to  the  foreign  demand.  Such  were  the  superior 
allurements  belonging  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  to  all  other 
branches  of  industry,  that  it  \vould  always  be  preferred  when  it 
can  profitably  be  followed.  The  foreign  demand  would,  in  any 
conceivable  state  of  things,  limit  the  amount  of  the  exportable 
produce  of  agriculture.  The  amount  of  our  exportations  would 
form  the  measure  of  our  importations,  and,  whatever  these  may 
be,  they  will  constitute  the  basis  of  the  revenue  derivable  from 
customs. 

The  manufacturing  system  is  favorable  to  the  maintenance  of 
peace.  Foreign  commerce  is  the  great  source  of  foreign  wars. 
The  eagerness  with  which  we  contend  for  every  branch  of  it ; 
the  temptations  which  it  offers,  operating  alike  upon  us  and  oar 
foreign  competitors,  produce  constant  collisions.  No  country  on 
earth,  by  the  extent  of  its  superfices,  the  richness  of  its  soil,  the 
variety  of  its  climate,  contains  within  its  own  limits  more  abun 
dant  facilities  for  supplying  all  our  rational  wants  than  ours  does. 
It  is  not  necessary  or  desirable,  however,  to  cut  off  all  intercourse 
with  foreign  powers.  But,  after  securing  a  supply,  within  our- 
selves._of  all  the  great  essentials  of  life,  there  will  be  ample  scope 
still  left  for  preserving  such  an  intercourse.  If  we  had  no  inter 
course  with  foreign  states,  if  we  adopted  the  policy  of  China,  we 
should  have  no  external  wars.  And  in  proportion  as  we  dimin 
ish  our  dependence  upon  them,  shall  we  lessen  the  danger  of  the 
recurrence  of  war.  Our  late  war  would  not  have  existed  if  the 
counsels  of  the  manufacturers  in  England  had  been  listened  to. 
They  finally  did  prevail,  in  their  steady  and  persevering  effort  to 
produce  a  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council ;  but  it  was  too  late  to 
prevent  the  war.  Those  who  attribute  to  the  manufacturing  sys 
tem  the  burthens  and  misfortunes  of  that  country,  commit  a  great 
error.  These  were  probably  a  joint  result  of  the  operation  of 
the  whole  of  her  systems,  and  the  larger  share  of  it  was  to  be 
ascribed  to  her  foreign  commerce,  and  to  the  ambition  of  her  ru 
lers,  than  to  any  other  cause.  The  war  of  our  revolution,  in 
which  that  ambition  displayed  its  monstrous  arrogance  nnd  pre 
tensions,  laid  the  broad  foundation  of  that  enormous  debt  undei 
•which  she  now  groans. 

The  tendency  of  reasonable  encouragement  to  our  home  in 
dustry,  is  favorable  to  the  preservation  and  strength  of  our  con 
federacy.  Now  our  connexion  is  merely  political.  For  the  sale 
of  the  surplus  of  the  produce  of  our  agricultural  labor,  all  eyes 


ON  THE  TARIFF,  121 

are  constantly  turned  upon  the  markets  of  Liverpool.  There  is 
scarcely  any  of  that  beneficial  intercourse,  the  best  basis  of  po- 
Jitical  connexion  which  consists  of  the  exchange  of  the  produce 
of  our  labor.  On  our  maritime  frontier  there  has  been  too  much 
stimulus,  an  unnatural  activity ;  in  the  great  interior  of  the  coun 
try,  there  exists  a  perfect  paralysis.  Encourage  fabrication  at 
home,  and  there  would  instantly  arise  animation  and  a  healthful 
circulation  throughout  all  the  parts  of  the  republic.  The  cheap 
ness,  fertility,  and  quantity  of  our  waste  lands,  offered  such  pow 
erful  inducements  to  cultivation,  that  our  countrymen  are  con 
stantly  engaging  in  it.  I  would  not  check  this  disposition  by 
hard  terms  in  the  sale  of  it.  Let  it  be  easily  accessible  to  all 
who  wish  to  acquire  it.  But  I  would  countervail  this  predilec 
tion  by  presenting  to  capital  and  labor,  motives  for  employment 
in  other  branches  of  industry.  Nothing  is  more  uncertain  than 
the  pursuit  of  agriculture,  when  we  mainly  rely  upon  foreign 
markets  for  the  sale  of  its  surplus  produce.  In  the  first  place,  it 
is  impossible  to  determine,  a  priori,  the  amount  of  this  surplus ; 
and,  in  the  second,  it  is  equally  impossible  to  anticipate  the  ex 
tent  of  the  foreign  demand.  Both  the  one  and  the  other  depend 
upon  the  seasons.  From  the  fluctuations  incident  to  these,  and 
from  other  causes,  it  may  happen  that  the  supplying  country  will 
for  a  long  series  of  years,  have  employed  a  larger  share  of  its 
-capital 'and  labor  than  is  wise,  in  production  to  supply  the  wants 
of  the  consuming  countries,  without  becoming  sensible  of  its  de 
lect  of  policy.  The  failure  of  a  crop,  or  the  failure  of  a  market, 
does  not  discourage  the  cultivator.  He  renews  his  labors  anoth 
er  year,  and  he  renews  his  hopes.  It  is  otherwise  with  manufac 
turing  industry.  The  precise  quantum  of  its  produce,  at  least, 
can  with  some  accuracy  be  previously  estimated.  And  the  wants 
of  foreign  countries  can  be  with  some  probability  anticipated. 

I  am  sensible,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  I  have  even  had  a  success, 
which  I  dare  not  presume,  in  the  endeavor  I  have  been  making 
to  show  that  sound  policy  requires  a  diversion  of  so  much  of  the 
capital  and  labor  of  this  country  from  other  employments  as  may 
be  necessary,  by  a  different  application  of  them,  to  secure,  within 
ourselves,  a  steady  and  adequate  supply  of  the  great  necessaries 
of  life,  I  shall  have  only  established  one  half  of  what  is  incum 
bent  upon  me  to  prove.  It  will  still  be  required  by  the  other 
«ide,  that  a  second  proposition  be  supported,  and  that  is.  that 
government  ought  to  present  motives  for  such  a  diversion  and 
new  application  of  labor  and  capital,  by  that  species  of  protec 
tion  which  the  tariff  holds  out.  Gentlemen  say,  we  agree  with 
you;  you  are  right  in  your  first  proposition,  but,  "let  things 
alone,"  and  they  will  come  right  in  the  end.  Now,  I  agree  with 
them,  that  things  would  ultimately  get  right :  but  not  until  after 
a  long  period  of  disorder  and  distress,  terminating  in  the  impov 
erishment,  and  perhaps  ruin  of  the  country.  Dissolve  govern 
ment,  reduce  it  to  its  primitive  elements,  and,  without  any  gene- 


::':/>  '•  •.     : .'".••'• :'     -i.v-  •:•  i  :  ••.*•.':''«.•*'•;: 

•v-  ••-      •>••-.-  '.       •*:'+•  •        1  •;••*?•:  •; 


122  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

ral  effort  to  reconstruct  it,  there  would  arise,  out  of  the  anarchy 
which  would  ensue,  partial  combinations  for  the  purpose  of  in 
dividual  protection,  which  would  finally  lead  to  a  social  iorni, 
competent  to  the  conservation  of  peace  within,  and  the  repulsion 
of  force  from  without.    Yet  no  one  would  say,  in  such  a  state 
anarchy,  let  things  alone !    If  gentlemen,  by  their  favorite  max 
im  mean  only  that,  within  the  bosom  of  the  state,  things  are  t< 
be  left  alone,  and  each  individual,  and  each  branch  of  industry, 
allowed  to  pursue  their  respective  interests,  without  giving  a  pre 
ference  to  .either,  I  subscribe  to  it.     But  if  they  give  it  a  more 
comprehensive  import ;  if  they  require  .that  things  be  left  aloi 
in  respect  not  only  to  interior  action,  but  to  exterior  action  also; 
not  only  as  regards  the  operation  of  our  own  government  upon 
the  mass  of  the  interests  of  the  state,  but  as  it  relates  to  the  < 
eration  of  foreign  governments  upon  that  mass,  I  dissent  iror 

•  This  maxim,  in  this  enlarged  sense,  is  indeed  every  where  pro 
claimed  ;  but  no  where  practised.    It  is  truth  in  the  books  c 
ropean  political  economists.    If  is  error  in  the  practical  code 
every  European  state.    It  is  not  applied  where  it  is  most  appli 
cable;  it  is  attempted  to  be  introduced  .here,  where  it  is  least  ap- 

ible ;  and  even  here  its  friends  propose  to  limit  it  to  the  K 
'  -<rlfe  branch'  of  manufacturing  industry,  whilst  every  other  intei 
•is  encouraged  and  protected  acccording  to  the  policy  of  Europe. 
The  maxim  would-  best  suit  Europe,  where  each  .interest  is  au- 

•  justed  and  arranged  to  every  other,  by  causes  operating  during 
'many  centuries.     Every  thing'there  has  taken  and  preserved  it 
ancient  position.     The  house  that  was  built  centurie's  ago,  is  oc 
cupied -by  the  descendants  of, its  original  constructor.    II  one 
could  rise- up,  after  the  lapse  of  ages,  and  enter  a  European  shop, 
he  would  see  the  same  hammer  at  work,  on  the  same  anvil  or 
last,  and  almost  by  the  same  hand.     There'every  thing  has  iouria 

"its  pface  and  its  level,  and  every  thing,  one  would  think,  might 
there  be  'safely  left  alone.  But  the  policy  of  the  European  states 
is  otherwise.  Here  every  thing  is  new  and  unfixed.  Neither 
the  state,  nor  the  individuals  who  compose  it,  have  settled  down 
in  their  firm  and  permanent  positions.  There  is  a  constant  ten 
dency,  in  consequence  of  the  extent  of  our  public  domain,'  to- 

•  wards  production  for  foreisrn  markets.     The  maxim,  in  the  com 
prehensive  sense  in  which" I  am  considering  it,  requires,  to  enti 
tle  it  to   observation,  two  conditions,   neither  of  which  exi 
First  that  there  should  be  perpetual  peace,  and  secondly,  that 
the  maxim  should  be  every  where  respected.     When  war  brea 
out,  that  free  and  general  circulation  of  the  produce  of  industry. 
among  the  nations  which  it  recommends,  is  interrupted,  and  t 
nation  that  depends  upon  a  foreign  supply  of  its  necessaries,  must 
be  subjected  to  the  greatest  inconvenience.     If  it  be -not  every 
where  "observed,  there  will  be,  between  the  nation  that  does  not, 
and  the  nation  that  does,  conform  to  it.  an  inequality  alike  con 
demned  by  honor  and  by  interest.    If 'there  be  no  reciprocity; 
if,  on  the  one  side,  there  is  perfect  freedom  of  trade,  and  on  the 


ON  THE  TARIFF.  123 

$ther  a,  code  of  odious  restrictions,  will  gentlemen  still  contend 
that  we  are  to  submit  to  such  an  unprofitable  and  degrading  in 
tercourse?  Will  they  require  that  we  shall  act  upon  the  social 
system,  whilst  every  other  power  acts  upon  the  selfish  ?  Will 
they  demand  of  us  to  throw  widely  open  our  ports  to  every  na 
tion,  whilst  all  other  nations  entirely  or  partly  exclude  theirs 
against  our  productions  ?  It  is, indeed,  possible,  that  some  pecu 
niary  advantage  might  be  enjoyed  by  our  country  in  prosecu 
ting  the  remnant  of  the  trade  which  the  contracted  policy  cf  oth 
er  powers  leaves  to  us.  But  what  security  is  there  for  our  con 
tinuing  to  enjoy  even  that?  And.  is  national  honor,  is  national 
independence  to  count  as  nothing?  I  will  not  enter  into  a  detail  * 
of 'the  restrictions  with  which  we  are  e,  very  where  ••  presented  in 
foreign  countries.  I  will  content  myself  with,  asserting  that  they 
take  nothing  from  us  which  they  can,  produce  themselves,  upqii 
€ven  worse  terms  than 'we  cduld  supply  them.  Take,/  agaiii^  as 
an  example,  the'; .English  corn  laws:  ,  America'  presents  the  im'-'1- 
,. '  .  age  of  a  fine  generous  hearted  young  fellow,  who  has' just  come 
to-  the  possession  of  a  rich  estate — an  estate,1  which,  however,  re- 

*,  quires  careful  management.  .;  He  makes  nothing;  he  buys ;e very 
,  •,  .thing.  ,  He  is  surrounded  by  a-parcel.of  Jews,  each  li 

;  his  hand,  with  a  packet  of,  buttons  or  phis,  or  some  other  com 
modity,  for  sale.  \f  jie,  asks  .those.  Jews  to  buy. 'any  thing,  which 

'•   his  Estate  produces,  they  tell  Jiim  no  ;  it  is  not  for  our  interest ;  it  " 
is. not  for  yours!.  .  Take  this  new  book,  says'One  of  them,  on  po 
litical  economy,  and  you  will  there  .perceive  it  is  for  your 'interest  . 
to  'buy  from  us,  and  to  let  things  alo$e,  in  your  own  country/-  Tlie 
. ;  gentleman  from  Virginia?-  to  w|iomi  haver  already  referred,  lias 

•   surrendered  the  whole  argument,  in  the  example  of  the  East  In-   . 
?     dia  trade.     He  thinks  that  -because 'India  takes  nothing  v'tut  spe*-' 
cie  from  us,;  because  there  is  not' a  reciprocal  exchange  between, 
us  and  India,  of1  our  respective  productions,  that  thc;  trade  ought 
to  be  discontinued.    Now  I  do  not"  agree 'with  him,  that  it  ought 
to  be.  abandoned,  though  I  would  put  it  uiider*  cpnsidje^abll 
atrictions,  when  it  comes  in  competition  with  the-' fabrics  of  our 
own  country.    If  the  want  of  entire  reciprocity  be  a  sufficient 
ground  for  the  tqtal  abandonment  of  a  particular  branch  of  trade, 

'•••  the  same  principle  requires  that,  where  there  are  some  restrictions 
on  the  one  side,  they  should  be  countervailed  by  equal  restrictions 
on  the  other. 

But  this  maxim,  according  to  which  gentlemen  would  have 
us  abandon  the  home  industry  of  the  country,  to  the  influence 
of  the  restrictive  systems  of  other  countries,  without  an  effort  to 
protect  and  preserve  it,  is  not  itself  observed  by  the  same  gen 
tlemen,  in  regard  to  the  great  interests  of  the  nation.  We  pro 
tect  our  fisheries  by  bounties  and  drawbacks.  We  protect  our 
tonnage,  by  excluding  a  restricting  foreign  tonnage,  exactly  as 
our  tonnage  is  excluded  or  restricted  by  foreign  states.  We 
gassed,  a  year  or  two  ago,  the  bill  to  prohibit  British  navigation 
from  the  West  India  colonies  of  that  power  to  the  United  States, 


124  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

because  ours  is  shut  out  from  them.  The  session  prior  to  the 
passage  of  that  law,  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  and  IT 
almost  alone,  urged  the  House  to  pass  it.  But  the  subject  was 
postponed  until  the  next  session,  when  it  was  passed  by  nearly  a 
unanimous  vote,  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  and  the  two 
gentlemen  from  Virginia,  (Messrs.  Barbour  and  Tyler,)  voting 
with  the  majority.  We  have  now  upon  our  table  other  bills  con 
nected  with  that  object,  and  proposing  restriction  upon  the  French 
tonnage  to  countervail  theirs  upon  ours.  I  shall,  with  pleasure, 
vote  for  these  measures.  We  protect  our  foreign  trade,  by  consuls, 
by  foreign  ministers,  by  embargoes,  by  non-intercourse,  by  a  navy, 
by  fortifications,  by  squadrons  constantly  acting  abroad,  by  war. 
and  by  a  variety  of  commercial  regulations  in  our  statute  book. 
The  whole  system  of  the  general  government,  from  its  first  forma 
tion  to  the  present  time,  consists,  almost  exclusively,  in  one  unre 
mitting  endeavor  to  nourish,  and  protect,  and  defend  the  foreign 
trade.  Why  have  not  all  these  great  interests  been  left  to  the  ope 
ration  of  the  gentlemen's  favorite  maxim  ?  Sir,  it  is  perfectly  right 
that  we  should  have  afforded  this  protection.  And  it  is  perfectly 
right,  in  my  humble  opinion,  that  we  should  extend  the  principle 
to^the  home  industry.  I  am  a  friend  to  foreign  trade,  but  I  pro 
test  against  its  being  the  monopolist  of  all  the  parental  favor 
and  care  of  this  government. 

But,  sir,  friendly  as  I  am  to  the  existence  of  domestic  manu 
factures,  I  would  not  give  to  them  unreasonable  encouragement, 
by  protecting  duties.  Their  growth  ought  to  be  gradual,  but 
sure.  I  believe  all  the  circumstances  of  the  present  period  highly 
favorable  to  their  success.  But  they  are  the  youngest  and  the 
weakest  interest  of  the  state.  Agriculture  wants  but  little  or  no 
protection  against  the  regulations  of  foreign  powers.  The  ad 
vantages  of  our  position,  and  the  cheapness  and  abundance  arid 
fertility  of  our  land,  afford  to  that  greatest  interest  of  the  state 
almost  all  the  protection  it  wants.  As  it  should  be,  it  is  strong 
and  flourishing;  or,  if  it  be  not,  at  this  moment,  prosperous,  it  is 
not  because  its  produce  is  not  ample,  but  because,  depending,  as 
we  do  altogether  upon  a  foreign  market  for  the  sale  of  the  sur 
plus  of  that  produce,  the  foreign  market  is  glutted.  Our  foreign 
trade  having  almost  exclusively  engrossed  the  protecting  care 
of  government,  wants  no  further  legislative  aid.  And,  whatever 
depression  it  may  now  experience,  it  is  attributable  to  causes 
Beyond  the  control  of  this  government.  The  abundance  of  capi 
tal,  indicated  by  the  avidity  with  which  loans  are  sought,  at  the 
reduced  rate  of  five  per  centum;  the  reduction  in  the  wages  of 
labor,  and  the  decline  in  the  price  of  property  of  every  kind,  as 
well  as  that  of  agricultural  produce,  all  concur  favorably  for  do 
mestic  manufactures.  Now,  as  when  we  arranged  the  existing 
tariff,  is  the  auspicious  moment  for  government  to  step  in  and 
cheer  and  countenance  them.  We  did  too  little  then,  and  I  en 
deavored  to  warn  this  House  of  the  effects  of  inadequate  pro 
tection.  We  were  called  upon,  at  that  time,  by  the  previous 


ON  THE  TARIFF.  125 

pledges  we  had  given,  by  the  inundation  of  foreign  fabrics, 
which  was  to  be  anticipated  from  their  free  admission  after  the 
termination  of  the  war,  and  by  the  lasting  interests  of  this  coun 
try,  to  give  them  efficient  support.  We  did  not  do  it ;  but  let  us 
not  now  repeat  the  error.  Our  great  mistake  lias  been  in  the 
irregularity  of  the  action  of  the  measures  of  this  government 
upon  manufacturing  industry.  At  one  period  it  is  stimulated  too 
high,  and  then,  by  an  opposite  course  of  policy,  it  is  precipitated 
into  a  condition  of  depression  too  low.  First  there  came  the 
embargo;  then  non-intercourse,  and  other  restrictive  measures 
followed,  and  finally,  that  greatest  of  all  stimuli  to  domestic  fab- 
rication,  war.  During  all  that  long  period,  we  were  adding,  to 
the  positive  effect  of  the  measures  of  government,  all  the  moral 
encouragement  which  results  from  popular  resolves,  legislative 
resolves,  and  other  manifestations  of  the  public  will  and  the  pub 
lic  wish  to  foster  our  home  manufactures,  and  to  render  our  con 
federacy  independent  of  foreign  powers.  The  peace  ensued, 
and  the  country  was  flooded  with  the  fabrics  of  other  countries ; 
and  we,  forgetting  all  our  promises,  coolly  and  philosophically 
talk  of  leaving  things  to  themselves ;  making  up  our  deficiency 
of  practical  good  sense,  by  the  stores  of  learning  which  we  col 
lect  from  theoretical  writers.  I,  too,  sometimes  amuse  myself 
with  the  visions  of  these  writers,  (as  I  do  with  those  of  meta 
physicians  and  novelists,)  and,  if  I  do  not  forget,  one  of  the  best 
among  them,  enjoins  it  upon  a  country  to  protect  its  industry 
against  the  injurious  influence  of  the  prohibitions  and  restrictions 
of  foreign  countries,  which  operate  upon  it 

Monuments  of  the  melancholy  effects,  upon  our  manufactures, 
and  of  the  fluctuating  policy  of  the  councils  of  the  Union  in  re 
gard  to  them,  abound  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Villages,  and 
parts  of  villages,  which  sprung  up  but  yesterday  in  the  western 
country,  under  the  excitement  to  which  I  have  referred,  have 
dwindled  into  decay,  and  are  abandoned.  In  New-England,  in 
passing  along  the  highway,  one  frequently  sees  large  and  spa 
cious  buildings,  with  the  glass  broken  out  of  the  windows,  the 
shutters  hanging  in  ruinous  disorder,  without  any  appearance 
of  activity,  and  enveloped  in  solitary  gloom.  Upon  inquiring 
what  they  are,  you  are  almost  always  informed  that  they  were 
some  cotton  or  other  factory,  which  their  proprietors  could  no 
longer  keep  in  motion  against  the  overwhelming  pressure  of 
foreign  competition.  Gentlemen  ask  for  facts  to  show  the  expe 
diency  and  propriety  of  extending  protection  to  our  manufac 
tures.  Do  they  want  stronger  evidence  than  the  condition  of 
things  I  have  pointed  out?  They  ask  why  the  manufacturing 
industry  is  not  resumed  under  the  encouraging  auspices  of  the 
present  time?  Sir,  the  answer  is  obvious;  there  is  a  general 
dismay;  there  is  a  want  of  heart;  there  is  the  greatest  moral 
discouragement  experienced  throughout  the  nation.  A  man 
who  engages  in  the  manufacturing  business  is  thought  by  his 
11* 


126  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

friends  to  be  deranged.  Who  will  go  to  the  ruins  of  Carthage 
or  Balbec  to  rebuild  a  city  there?  Let  government  commence 
a  systematic  but  moderate  support  of  this  important  branch  of 
our  industry.  Let  it  announce  its  fixed  purpose,  that  the  pro 
tection  of  manufactures  against  the  influence  of  the  measures 
of  foreign  governments,  will  enter  into  the  scope  of  our  national 
policy.  Let  us  substitute,  to  the  irregular  action  of  our  mea 
sures,  one  that  shall  be  steady  and  uniform ;  and  hope  and  ani 
mation  and  activity  will  again  revive.  The  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina,  (Mr.  Lowndes,)  offered  a  resolution,  which  the 
House  rejected,  having  for  its  object  to  ascertain  the  profits  now 
made  upon  capital  employed  in  manufacturing.  It  is  not,  I  repeat 
it,  the  individuals,  but  the  interests  we  wish  to  have  protected. 
From  the  infinite  variety  of  circumstances  under  which  different 
manufacturing  establishments  are  situated,  it  is  impossible  that 
any  information,  such  as  the  gentleman  desires,  could  be  obtain 
ed,  that  ought  to  guide  the  judgment  of  this  House.  It  may  happen 
that,  of  two  establishments  engaged  in  the  same  species  of  labri- 
cation,  one  will  be  prospering  and  the  other  laboring.  Take  the 
example  of  the  Waltham  manufactory  near  Boston,  and  that 
of  Brunswick  in  Maine.  The  former  Jias  the  advantages  of  a 
fine  water  situation,  a  manager  of  excellent  information,  entliu- 
skifitieally  devoted  to  its  success,  a  machinist  of  most  inventive 
genius,  who  is  constantly  making  some  new  improvement,  and 
who  has  carried  the  water  loom  to  a  degree  of  perfection  which 
it  has  not  attained  in  England — to  such  perfection  as  to  reduce 
the  cost  of  weaving  a  yard  of  cloth  adapted  to  shirting  to  less 
than  a  cent  per  yard — while  it  is  abundantly  supplied  with  capi 
tal  by  several  rich  capitalists  in  Boston.  These  gentlemen  have 
the  most  extensive  correspondence  with  all  parts  of  the  United 
States.  Owing  to  this  extraordinary  combination  of  favorable 
oirrnrastances,  the  Waltham  establishment  is  doing  pretty  well ; 
whilst  that  of  Brunswick,  not  possessing  all  of  them,  but  per 
haps  as  many  as  would  enable  it,  under  adequate  protection,  to 
flourish,  is  laboring  arduously.  Would  gentlemen  infer,  from 
the  success  of  a  few  institutions  having  peculiar  advantages, 
which  form  exceptions  to  the  languishing  condition  of  manufac 
turing  industry,  that  there  exists  no  necessity  for  protection1?  In 
the  most  discouraging  state  of  trade  and  navigation,  there  were, 
no  doubt,  always  some  individuals  who  were  successful  in  prose 
cuting  them.  Would  it  be  fair  to  argue,  from  these  instances, 
against  any  measure  brought  forward  to  revive  their  activity? 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  (Mr.  Whitman)  has 
manifested  peculiar  hostility  to  the  tariff,  and  has  allowed  him 
self  to  denominate  it  a  mad,  quixotic,  ruinous  scheme.  The 
gentleman  is  dissatisfied  with  the  quarter — the  west — from 
which  it  emanates.  To  give  higher  tone  and  more  effect  to 
the  gentleman's  declamation,  which  is  vague  and  indefinite,  he 
"has  even  assumed  a  new  place  in  this  house.  Sir,  I  would  ad- 
vjse  the  gentleman  to  return  to  his  ancient  position,  moral  and 


•   -  V. 


ON  THE  TARIFF.  127 

physical.  It  was  respectable  and  useful.  The  honorable  gen 
tleman  professes  to  "be  a  friend  to  manufacturers !  And  yet  he 
has  found  an  insurmountable  constitutional  impediment  to  their 
encouragement,  of  which,  as  no  other  gentleman  has  relied 
upon  it,  I  shall  leave  him  in  the  undisturbed  possession.  Tho 
honorable  gentleman,  a  friend  to  manufacturers  !  And  yet  he 
has  delivered  a  speech,  marked  with  peculiar  emphasis,  against 
their  protection.  The  honorable  gentleman,  a  friend  to  manu- 
turers!  And  yet  he  requires,  if  this  constitutional  difficulty 
could  be  removed,  such  an  arrangement  of  the  tariff  as  shall 
please  him,  although  every  one  else  should  be  dissatisfied.  The 
.  intimation  is  not  new  of  the  presumptuousness  of  western  poli 
ticians,  in  endeavoring  to  give  to  the  policy  of  this  country  such 
a  direction  as  will  assert  its  honor  and  sustain  its  interests.  It 
was  first  made  whilst  the  measures  preparatory  to  the  late  war 
were  under  consideration,  and  it  now  probably  emanates  from 
the  same  quarter.  The  predeliction  of  the  school  of  the  Essex 
junto  for  foreign  trade  and  British  fabrics — I  am  far  from  insinu 
ating  that  other  gentlemen  who  are  opposed*  to  the  tariff  are  ac 
tuated  by  any  such  spirit — is  unconquerable.  We  disregarded 
the  intimation  when  it  was  first  made  ;  we  shall  be  uninfluenced 
by  it  now.  If,  indeed,  there  were  the  least  color  for  the  asser 
tion,  that  the  foreign  trade  is  to  be  crushed  by  the  tariff,  is  it  not 
strange  that  the  whole  of  the  representation  from  all  our  great 
commercial  metropolises  should  unite  to  destroy  it?  The  mem 
ber  from  Boston, — to  whose  rational  and  disinterested  course  I 
am  happy,  on  this,  as  on  many  other  occasions,  to  be  able  to 
testify, — the  representatives  from  the  city  of  New- York,  from 
Philadelphia,  from  Baltimore,  all  entered  into  this  confederacy, 
to  destroy  it,  by  supporting  this  mad  and  ruinous  scheme. 
Some  gentlemen  assert  that  it  is  too  comprehensive.  But  its 
chief  recommendation  to  me  is,  that  it  leaves  no  important  inter 
est  unprovided  for. 

The  same  gentlemen,  or  others,  if  it  had  been  more  limited, 
would  have  objected  to  its  partial  operation..  The  general 
measure  of  the  protection  which  it  communicates,  is  pronounced 
to  be  immoderate  and  enormous.  Yet  no  one  ventures  to  enter 
into  a  specification  of  the  particular  articles  of  which  it  is  com 
posed,  to  show  that  it  deserves  thus  to  be  characterized.  The 
article  of  molasses  has,  indeed,  been  selected,  and  held  up  as  an 
instance  of  the  alleged  extravagance.  The  existing  tariff  im 
poses  a  duty  of  five  cents;  the  proposed  tariff  ten  cents  per  gal 
lon.  We  tax  foreign  spirits  very  high,  and  yet  we  let  in,  with  a 
very  low  duty,  foreign  molasses,  which  ought  to  be  considered 
as  rum  in  disguise,  filling  the  space  of  so  much  domestic  spirits. 
If,  (which  I  do  no  believe  will  immediately  be  the  case,  to  any 
considerable  extent,)  the  manufacture  of  spirits  from  molasses 
should  somewhat  decline  under  the  new  tariff,  the  manufacture 
of  spirits  from  the  raw  material,  produced  at  home,  will  be  ex 
tended  in  the  same  ratio.  Besides  the  incidental  advantage  of 


. 

128  ON  THE  TARIFF. 

increasing  our  security  against  the  effect  of  season*  of  scarcity, 
by  increasing  the  distillation  of  spirits  from  gram,  there  was 
scarcely  any  item  in  the  tariff  which  combined  so  many  interests 
in  supporting  the  proposed  rate  of  duty.  The  grain  growing 
country,  the  fruit  country  and  the  culture  of  cane,  would  be  all 
benefitted  by  the  duty.  Its  operation  is  said,  however  to  be  in 
jurious  to  a  certain  quarter  of  the  Union.  It  was  not  to  be  denied 
that  each  particular  section  of  the  country  would  feel  some  one 
or  more  articles  of  the  tariff  to  bear  hard  upon  it,  during  a  short 
period ;  but  the  compensation  was  to  be  fouad  in  the  more  favor 
able  operation  of  others.  Now  I  am  fully  persuaded  that,  in  the 
first  instance,  no  part  of  the  Union  would  more  largely  than  New 
England,  share  in  the  aggregate  of  the  benefits  resulting  from 
the  tariff.  But  the  habits  of  economy  of  her  people,  their  indus 
try,  their  skill,  their  noble  enterprise,  the  stimulating  effects  of 
their  more  rigorous  climate,  all  tend  to  ensure  to  her  the  first 
and  the  richest  fruits  of  the  tariff.  The  middle  and  the  western 
states  would  come  in  afterwards  for  their  portion,  and  all  would 
participate  in  the  advantage  of  internal  exchanges  and  circula 
tion.  No  quarter  of  the  Union  could  urge,  with  a  worse  grace 
than  New  England,  objections  to  a  measure,  having  for  its  ob 
ject  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  the  whole ;  for  no  quarter 
of  the  Union  participated  more  extensively  in  the  benefits  flow 
ing  from  the  general  government.  Her  tonnage,  her  fisheries, 
her  foreign  trade,  have  been  constantly  objects  of  federal  care. 
There  was  expended  the  greatest  portion  of  the  public  revenue. 
The  building  of  the  public  ships ;  their  equipments  ;  the  expenses 
incident  to  their  remaining  in  port,  chiefly  took  place  there.  That 
great  drain  on  the  revenue,  the  revolutionary  pension  law,  in 
clined  principally  towards  New  England.  I  do  not  however 
complain  of  these  advantages  which  she  enjoys.  She  is  prob 
ably  fairly  entitled  to  them.  But  gentlemen  from  that  quarter 
may,  at  least,  be  justly  reminded  of  them,  when  they  complain 
of  the  onerous  effect  of  one  or  two  items  of  the  tariff. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  frankly  own  that  I  feel  great  solicitude  for 
the  success  of  this  bill.  The  entire  independence  of  my  country 
on  all  foreign  states,  as  it  respects  a  supply  of  our  essential  wants, 
has  ever  been  with  me  a  favorite  object.  The  war  of  our  revo 
lution  effected  our  political  emancipation.  The  last  war  contri 
buted  greatly  towards  accomplishing  our  commercial  freedom, 
But  our  complete  independence  will  only  be  consummated  after 
the  policy  of  this  bill  shall  be  recognized  and  adopted.  We  have 
indeed  great  difficulties  to  contend  with;  old  habits — colonial 
usages — the  obduracy  of  the  colonial  spirit — the  enormous  pro 
fits  of  a  foreign  trade,  prosecuted  under  favorable  circumstances, 
which  no  longer  continue.  I  will  not  despair ;  the  cause,  I  veri 
ly  believe,  is  the  cause  of  the  country.  It  may  be  postponed  ;  it 
may  be  frustrated  for  the  moment,  but  it  must  finally  prevail. 
Let  us  endeavor  to  acquire  for  the  present  Congress,  'the  merit 
of  having  laid  this  solid  foundation  of  the  national  prosperity. 


ON  THE  TARIFF.  129 

If,  as  I  think,  fatally  for  the  public  interest,  the  bill  shallbe  defeated, 
what  will  be  the  character  of  the  account  which  we  shall  have 
to  render  to  our  constituents  upon  our  return  among  them  ?  We 
shall  be  asked,  what  have  you  done  to  remedy  the  disorders  of 
the  public  currency?  Why,  Mr.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
made  us  a  long  report  on  that  matter,  containing  much  valuable 
information,  and  some  very  good  reasoning,  but,  upon  the  whole, 
we  found  that  subject  rather  above  our  comprehension,  and  we 
concluded  that  it  was  wisest  to  let  it  regulate  itself.  What  have 
you  done  to  supply  the  deficit  in  the  treasury?  We  thought 
that,  although  you  are  all  endeavoring  to  get  out  of  the  banks,  it 
was  a  very  good  time  for  us  to  go  into  them,  and  we  have  au- 
ihorixcd  a  loan.  You  have  done  something,  then,  certainly,  on 
ihe  subject  of  retrenchment.  Here,  at  home,  we  are  practising 
the  greatest  economy,  and  our  daughters,  no  longer  able  to  wear 
calico  gowns,  are  obliged  to  put  on  homespun.  Why,  we  have 
saved,  by  the  indefatigable  exertions  of  a  member  from  Tennes- 

•  see, — General  Cocke, — fifty  thousand  dollars,  which  were  want 
ed  for  the  Yellow  Stone  expedition.  No,  not  quite  so  much;  for 
thirty  thousand  dollars  of  that  sum  were  still  wanted,  although 
we 'stopped,  the  expedition  at  the  Council  Bluffs,  And  we  have 
saved  another  sum,  which  we  hope  will  give  you  great  satisfac 
tion.  After  nearly  two  days'  debate,  and  a  division  between  the 
two  houses,  we  struck  off  two  hundred  dollars  from  the  salary 
of  the  clerk  of  the  attorney-general.  What  have  you  done  to 
protect  home  industry  from  the  effects  of  the  contracted  policy  of 
foreign  powers  ?  We  thought  it  best,  after  much  deliberation, 
to  leave  things  alone  at  home,  and  to  continue  our  encourage 
ment  to  foreign  industry.  Well,  surely  you  have  passed  some 
law  to  reanimate  and  revive  the  hopes  of  the  numerous  bankrupts 
that  have  been  made  by  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  the 
world,  and  the  ruinous  tendency  of  our  policy  ?  No ;  the  senate 

'  could  not  agree  on  that  subject,  and  the  bankrupt  bill  failed! 
Can  we  plead,  sir,  ignorance  of  the  general  distress,  and  of  the 
ardent  wishes  of  the  community  for  that  protection  of  its  indus 
try,  which  this  bill  proposes  ?  No,  sir,  almost  daily,  throughout 
the  session,  have  we  been  receiving  petitions,  with  which  our 
table  is  now  loaded,  humbly  imploring  us  to  extend  this  protec 
tion.  Unanimous  resolutions  from  important  state  legislatures 
have  called  upon  us  to  give  it,  and  the  people  of  whole  states  in 
mass — almost  in  mass,  of  New-York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Ohio — have  transmitted  to  us  their  earnest,  and  humble  pe 
titions  to  encourage  the  home  industry.  Let  us  not  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  them.  Let  us  not  disappoint  their  just  expectations.  Let 
us  manifest,  by  the  passage  of  this  bill,  that  Congress  does  not 
deserve  the  reproaches  which  have  been  cast  on  it,  of  insensi 
bility  to  the  wants  and  sufferings  of  the  people. 


130  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

,•';*>'  2 

ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

House  of  Representatives,  January  16,  1824. 

,  The  bill  authorizing  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
cause  certain  surveys  and  estimates  to  be  made  on  the  subject 
of  roads  and  canals,  being  under  consideration, 

Mr.  Clay,  (Speaker,)  in  rising,  said  that  he  could  not  enter  on 
the  discussion  of  the  subject  before  him,  without  first  asking 
leave  to  express  his  thanks  for  the  kindness  of  the  committee,  in 
so  far  accommodating  him  as  to  agree  unanimously  to  adjourn 
its  sitting  to  the  present  time,  in  order  to  afford  him  the  opportu 
nity  of  exhibiting,  his  views;  which,  however,  lie  feared  he  shoujd 
do  very  unacceptably.  As  a  requital  for  this  kindness,  he  would 
endeavor,  as  far  as  was  practicable,'  to  abbreviate  what  he  had  • 
to  present  to  their  consideration.  Yet,  on  a  question  of  this  ex 
tent  an(J  moment,  there  were  so  many  topics  which  demanded  a 
deliberate  examination,  that,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  'it 
would  be  impossible,  he 'was  afraid,  to  reduce  the  argument  to 
any  thing  that  the  committee  would  consider  a  reasonable 'cpm- 
pass.  :  ,  •  .  "'C/y 

It  was  known  to  ail  who  heard  hjm,  that  there  had  now  exist 
ed  for  several  years  a  difference  of  opinion  between  the  execu 
tive  and  legislative  branches  of  this  government,  as  to  the  nature 
and  extent  of  certain  powers  conferred  upon  it  by  the  constitu-  ' 
tion;  Two  successive  Presidents  had  returned  to  Congress  bills 
which  had  previously  passed  both  Houses  of  that  bo.dy,  with  a 
communication  of  the  opinion  that  Congress,  under  the  constitu 
tion^  possessed  no  power  to  enact  such  laws.  :  High  respect, 
personal  and  official,- must  be  felt  by  all,1  as  it  was  due,  to  those 
distinguished  officers,  aJhd  to  their  opinions,  thus  solemnly  an 
nounced  y  and  the  niost  profound  consideration  belongs  to  our 
present  Chief  Magistrate,  "who  had  favored  tliat  House  with  a 
written  argument,  of  great  length  and  labor,  consisting  of  not 
less  than  sixty  or  seventy  pages,  in  support  of  his  exposition  of 
the  constitution.  From  the  magnitude  of  the  interests  involved 
in  the  question,  all  would  readily  concur,  that,  if  the  power  is 
granted,  and  does  really  exist,  it  ought  to  be  vindicated,  upheld 
and  maintained,  that  the  country  might  derive  the  great  benefits 
which  may  flow  from  its  prudent  exercise,  If  it  has  »ot  been 
communicated  to  Congress,  then  all  claim  to  it  should  be  at  once 
surrendered.  It  was  a  circumstance  of  peculiar  regret  to  him, 
that  one  more  competent  than  himself  had  not  risen  to  support 
the  course  which  the  legislative  department  had  heretofore  felt 
itself  bound  to  pursue  on  this  great  question.  Of  all  the  trusts 
which  are  created  by  human  agency,  that  is  the  highest,  most 
solemn,  and  most  responsible,  which  involves  the  exercise  of 
political  power.  Exerted  when  it  has  not  been  entrusted,  the 

-'-   •  •••  ••''••     '    '•'  v.-     '-'•:"      vv  v.  •  >-'    '  • 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.  121 

public  functionary  is  guilty  of  usurpation.  And  his  infidelity 
to  the  public  good  is  not,  perhaps,  less  culpable,  when  he  neg 
lects  or  refuses  to  exercise  a  power  which  has  been  fairly  con 
veyed,  to ,  promote  the  public  prosperity.  If  the  power,  which  he 
thus  forbears  to  exercise,  can  only  be  exerted  by  him— if  no 
other  public  functionary  can  employ  it,  and  the  public  good  re 
quires  its  exercise,  his  treachery  is  greatly  aggravated.  It  is 
only  in  those  cases  where  the  object  of  the  investment  of  power 
is  the  personal  ease  or  aggrandizement  of  the  public  a<rent,  that 
his  forbearance  to  use  it  is  praiseworthy,  gracious  or  ma^nani- 

ynm-io  & 


H1QUS. 


He  was  extremely  happy  to  find,  that,  on  many  of  the  points 
""•ument  of  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Virginia,  (Mr. 


of  the  ar 


-,.  .»^v  UUKUJP  uwv  wi  tnw  iiuiiuiu-ijit;  yciiuciiiua  iruill  Virginia    ilv.fr 

Barbour,)  there  was  entire  concurrence  between  them,  widelv 
as'  they  differed  in  their  ultimate  conclusions.     On  this  occasion, 
(as  on  all  'others  On  which  that  gentleman- obliged  the  House 
witii  an  expression  of  his  opinions,)  he  displayed  great  ability 
and  ingenuity;  and,  as  well  from-  the  matter  as  from  the 'respect 
ful  manner  .of  his^  argument,  it  was  deserving  of  the  most  thorough 
consideration.     He  was  compelled  to  differ  •-l>om' that  .TO; i; 
at  the  Very  threshold.     HeJiad  commenced  by  laying^  down  as' 
a  'general  principle,  that,  in  the  distribution  of  powers  amono- 
our  federal  and  State  governments,  those  which  were  of  a  mi> 
:  nic'ipai  character  .were  to  be  considered  as  .appertaining  to  the 
otata/gqvernments,  arid 'those  which  related  to  cxterna.f  affair* 
to  the  general  government.  ,  If  he  might  be  .  allowed ,  ,to  ''throw 
the,  argument  of  the  gentleman  into  the  form  of 'a  syllogism    (a 
.'shape  which  he  presumed- Would  be  quite  agreeable 'to'iiim  )  it 
amounted'  to  this :   Municipal  powers  belong  exclusively  to '  the 
State  governments;  but  the  power  to  make'  internal  improve 
ment^  is  municipal;  therefore  it  belongs  to  the  State  <~overn-  ' 
ments  alone.     He  (Mr.  p.)  denied  both  the  premises  and  the 
conclusion.    If  the  ^gentleman  had  affirmed  that  certain  munjci- 
pal  powers,  and  tlie  great  mass  of  them,  belong  to,  the  State   ' 
governments,  his  proposition  would. have  been  incontrovertible, 
out,  if  he  had  so  qualified  it,  it  would  not  have  assisted  the  gen^ 
jeman  at  all  in"  his  conclusion.     But  surely  the  power  of  taxa 
tion—the  power  to  regulate  the  value  of  coin— the  power  to  es 
tablish^,  uniform  standard  of  weights  and  measures — to  establish 
;ost  roads— to  regulate  commerce  among  the 
at  in  relation  to  the  judiciary — besides  many 


post"  offices  and  p 
several  States— th 


""•  i  ii  aj^iwuivm  L\J  nip  j-uLuujai.j' — uusiues  many 
)thcr  powers  indisputably  belonging  to  the  federal  government 
are  strictly  municipal.  If,  as  he  understood  the  gentleman  in 
tne  course  of  the  subsequent  part  of  his  argument  to  admit 
some  municipal  powers  belong  to  the  one  system,  and  some  to 
the  other,  we  shall  derive  very  little  aid  from  the  gentleman's 
principle,  in  making  the  discrimination  between  the  two.  The 
question  must  ever  remain  open— whether  any  given  power  and 
of  course,  that  in  question,  is  or  is  not  delegated  to  this  ETOVferh- 
ment,  or  retained  by  the  States? 


132  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

'*   '"*••»? ^£3  ' *£*'  '  *j  "* 

The  conclusion  of  the  gentleman  is,  that  all  internal  improve 
ments  belong  to  the  State  governments ;  that  they  are  of  a  lim 
ited  and  local  character,  and  are  not  comprehended  within  the* 
scope  of  the  federal  powers,  which  relate  to  external  or  general- 
objects.  That  many,  perhaps  most  internal  improvements,  par 
take  of  the  character  described  by  the  gentleman,  he  (Mr.  C.) 
should  not  deny.  But  it  was  no  less  true  that  there  were  others, 
emphatically  national,  which  neither  the  policy,  nor  the  power, 
nor  the  interests,  of  any  State  would  induce  it  to  accomplish, 
and  which  could  only  be  effected  by  the  application  of  the  re 
sources  of  the  nation.  The  improvement  of  the  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi  would  furnish  a  striking  example.  This  was 
•undeniably  a"  great  and  important  object.  The  report  of  a  highly 
scientific  and  intelligent  officer  of  the  engineer  corps,  (which  Mr. 
C.  hoped  would  be  soon  taken  up  and  acted  upon,)  had  shown 
that  the  cost  of  any  practicable  improvement  in  the  navigation 
of  that  river,  in  the  present  state  of  the  inhabitants  of  its  banks, 
was  a  mere  trifle  in  comparison,  to  the  great  benefits  which 
would  accrue  from  it.  He  (Mr.  C.)  believed  that  about  double 
the  amount  of  the  loss  of  a  single  steam-boat  and  cargo,  (the 
Tennessee,)  would  effect  the  whole  improvement  in  the  naviga 
tion  of  that  river  which  ought  to  be  at  this  time  attempted.  In 
this  great  object  twelve  States  and  two  Territories  were,  in 
different  degrees,  interested.  The  power  to  effect  the  improve 
ment  of  that  river  was  surely  not  municipal,  in  the  sense  in 
which  the  gentleman  used  the  term.  If  it  were,  to  which  of  the 
twelve  States  and  two  Territories  concerned  did  it  belong?  It 
was  a  great  object,  which  could  only  be  effected  by  a  confede 
racy.  And  here  is  existing  that  confederacy,  and  no  other  can 
lawfully  exist:  for  the  constitution  prohibits  the  States,  immedi 
ately  interested,  from  entering  into  any  treaty  or  compact  with 
each  other.  Other  examples  might,  be  given,  to  show  that, 
if  even  the  power  existed,  the  inclination  to  exert  it  would 
not  be  felt,  to  effectuate  certain  improvements  eminently  calcu 
lated  to  promote  the  prosperity  of.  the  Union.  Neither  of  the 
three  States,  nor  all  of  them  united,  through  which  the  Cum 
berland  road  passes,  would  ever  have  erected  that  road.  Two 
of  them  would  have  thrown  in  every  impediment  to  its  comple 
tion  in  their  power.  Federative  in  its  character,  it  could  only 
have  been  executed  so  far  by  the  application  of  federative 
means.  Again:  the  contemplated  canal  through  New- Jersey; 
that  to  connect  the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware ; 
that  to  unite  the  Ohio  and  the  Potomac,  were  all  objects  of  a 
general  and  federative  nature,  in  which  the  States  through 
which  they  might  severally  pass  could  not  be  expected  to  feel 
any  such  special  interest  as  would  lead  to  their  execution. 
Tending,  as  undoubtedly  they  would  do,  to  promote  the  good 
of  the  whole,  the  power  and  the  treasure  of  the  whole  must  be 
applied  to  their  execution,  if  they  are  ever  consummated. 
Mr.  Clay  did  not  think,  then,  that  we  should  be  at  all  assisted 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.      133 

in  expounding  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  by  the  prin 
ciple  which  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  had  suggested  in  res 
pect  to  municipal  powers.  The  powers  of  both  governments 
were  undoubtedly  municipal,  often  operating  upon  the  same  sub 
ject.  He  thought  a  better  rule  than  that  which  the  gentleman 
furnished  for  interpreting  the  constitution,  might  be  deduced  from 
an  attentive  consideration  of  the  peculiar  character  of  the  arti 
cles  of  confederation,  as  contrasted  with  that  of  the  present  con 
stitution.  By  those  articles,  the  powers  of  the  thirteen  United 
States  were  exerted  collaterally.  They  operated  through  an  in 
termediary.  They  were  addressed  to  the  several  states,  and  their 
execution  depended  upon  the  pleasure  and  the  co-operation  of 
the  states  individually.  The  states  seldom  fulfilled  the  expecta 
tions  of  the  general  government  in  regard  to  its  requisitions,  and 
often  wholly  disappointed  them.  Langour  and  debility,  in  the 
movement  of  the  old  confederation,  were  the  inevitable  conse 
quence  of  that  arrangement  of  power.  By  the  existing  consti 
tution,  the  powers  of  the  general  government  act  directly  on  the 
persons  and  things  within  its  scope,  without  the  intervention  or 
impediments  incident  to  any  intermediary.  In  executing  the 
great  trust  which  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  creates, 
we  must,  therefore,  reject  that  interpretation  of  its  provisions 
which  would  make  the  general  government  dependent  upon  those 
of  the  states  for  the  execution  of  any  of  its  powers ;  and  may 
safely  conclude  that  the  only  genuine  construction  would  be  that 
which  should  enable  this  government  to  execute  the  great  pur 
poses  of  its  institution,  without  the  co-operation,  and,  if  indispen 
sably  necessary,  even  against  the  will  of  any  particular  state. 
This  is  the  characteristic  difference  between  the  two  systems  of 
government,  of  which  we  should  never  lose  sight  Interpreted 
in  the  one  way,  we  shall  relapse  into  the  feebleness  and  debility 
of  the  old  confederacy.  In  the  other,  we  shall  escape  from  its 
evils,  and  fulfil  the  great  purposes  which  the  enlightened  framers 
of  the  existing  constitution  intended  to  effectuate.  The  impor 
tance  of  this  essential  difference  in  the  two  forms  of  government, 
would  be  shown  in  the  future  progress  of  the  argument. 

Before  he  proceeded  to  comment  upon  those  parts  of  the  con 
stitution  which  appeared  to  him  to  convey  the  power  in  question, 
he  hoped  he  should  be  allowed  to  disclaim,  for  his  part,  several 
sources  whence  others  had  deduced  the  authority.  The  gentle 
man  from  Virginia  seemed  to  think  it  remarkable  that  the  friends 
of  the  power  should  disagree  so  much  among  themselves ;  and 
to  draw  a  conclusion  against  its  existence  from  the  fact  of  this 
discrepancy.  But  he  (Mr.  C.)  could  see  nothing  extraordinary 
in  this  diversity  of  views.  What  was  more  common  than  for  dif 
ferent  men  to  contemplate  the  same  subject  under  various  as 
pects  ?  Such  was  the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  that  enlight 
ened  men,  perfectly  upright  in  their  intentions,  differed  in  their 
opinions  on  almost  every  topic  that  could  be  mentioned.  It  wa* 


134      ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

rather  a  presumption,  in  favor  of  the  cause  which  he  was  humbly 
maintaining,  that  the  same  result  should  be  attained  by  so  many 
various  modes  of  reasoning.  But,  if  contrariety  of  views  might 
be  pleaded  with  any  effect  against  the  advocates  of  the  disputed 
power,  it  equally  availed  against  their  opponents.  There  was, 
for  example,  not  a  very  exact  coincidence  in  opinion  between  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  the  gentleman  from  Virginia. 
The  President  says,  (page  25  of  his  book,)  "  The  use  of  the  ex 
isting  road,  by  the  stage,  mail  carrier,  or  post  boy,  in  passing 
over  it,  as  others  do,  is  all  that  would  be  thought  of  j  the  jurisdic 
tion  and  soil  remaining  to  the  state,  with  a  right  in  the  state,  or 
those  authorized  by  its  legislature,  to  change  the  road  at  pleas 
ure."  Again,  page  27,  the  President  asks,  "If  the  United  States 
possessed  the  power  contended  for  under  this  grant,  might  they 
not,  in  adopting  the  roads  of  the  individual  states,  for  the  car 
riage  of  the  mail,  as  has  been  done,  assume  jurisdiction  over 
them,  and  preclude  a  right  to  interfere  with  or  alter  them?" 
They  both  agree  that  the  general  government  does  not  possess 
the  power.  The  gentleman  from  Virginia  admits,  if  he  (Mr.  C.) 
understood  him  correctly,  that  the  designation  of  a  state  road  as 
a  post  road,  so  far  withdrew  it  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  state, 
that  it  could  not  be  afterwards  put  down  or  closed  by  the  state  ; 
and  in  this  he  claims  for  the  general  government  more  power 
than  the  President  concedes  to  it.  The  President,  on  the  con 
trary,  pronounces,  that  "  the  absurdity  of  such  a  pretension," 
(that  is,  preventing,  by  the  designation  of  a  post  road,  the  power 
of  the  state  from  altering  or  changing  it,)  "must  be  apparent  to 
all  who  examine  it !"  The  gentleman  thinks  that  the  designation 
of  a  post  road  withdraws  it  entirely,  so  far  as  it  is  used  tor  that 
purpose,  from  the  power  of  the  whole  state  ;  whilst  the  President 
thinks  it  absurd  to  assert  that  a  mere  county  court  may  not  de 
feat  the  execution  of  a  law  of  the  United  States !  The  President 
thinks  that,  under  the  power  of  appropriating  the  money  of  the 
United  States,  Congress  may  apply  it  to  any  object  of  internal 
improvement,  provided  it  does  not  assume  any  territorial  jurisdic 
tion  ;  and,  in  this  respect,  he  claims  for  the  general  government 
more  power  than  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  assigns  to  if.  And 
lie  (Mr.  C.)  must  own,  that  he  so  far  coincided  with  the  gentle 
man  from  Virginia.  If  the  power  can  be  traced  to  no  more  le 
gitimate  source  than  to  that  of  appropriating  the  public  treasure,  ^ 
he  yielded  the  question. 

The  truth  is,  that  there  is  no  specific  grant,  in  the  constitution, 
of  the  power  of  appropriation;  nor  was  any  such  requisite.  It  is 
a  resulting  power.  The  constitution  vests  in  Congress  the  pow 
er  of  taxation,  with  but  few  limitations,  to  raise  a  public  revenue. 
It  then  enumerates  the  powers  of  Congress.  And  it  follows,  of 
necessity,  that  Congress  has  the  right  to  apply  the  money,  so 
raised,  to  the  execution  of  the  powers  so  granted.  The  clause 
which  concludes  the  enumeration  of  the  granted  powers,  by  au 
thorizing  the  passage  of  all  laws,  u  necessary  an  1  proper  "  to  el- 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.  135 

fectuate  them,  comprehends  the  power  of  appropriation.  And 
the  framers  of  the  constitution  recognize  it  by  the  restriction  that 
no  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury  but  in  virtue  of  a  pre 
vious  appropriation  by  law.  It  was  to  him  wonderful  how  the 
President  should  have  brought  his  mind  to  the  conclusion,  that, 
under  the  power  of  appropriation,  thus  incidentally  existing,  a 
right  could  be  set  up,  in  its  nature  almost  without  limitation,  to 
employ  the  public  money.  He  combats  with  great  success  and 
much  ability,  any  deduction  of  power  from  the  clause  relating  to 
the  general  welfare.  He  shows  that  the  effect  of  it  would  be  to 
overturn,  or  render  useless  and  nugatory,  the  careful  enumera 
tion  of  our  powers ;  and  that  it  would  convert  a  cautiously  limit 
ed  government  into  one  without  limitation.  The  same  process 
of  reasoning  by  which  his  mind  was  brought  to  this  just  conclu 
sion,  one  would  have  thought,  should  have  warned  him  against  his 
claiming,  under  the  power  of  appropriation,  such  a  vast  latitude 
of  authority.  He  reasons  strongly  against  the  power,  as  claimed 
by  us,  harmless  and  beneficent  and  limited,  as  it  must  be  admit 
ted  to  be.  and  yet  he  sets  up  a  power  boundless  in  its  extent,  un 
restrained  to  the  object  of  internal  improvements,  and  compre 
hending  the  whole  scope  of  human  affairs  !  For,  if  the  power 
exists,  as  he  asserts  it,  what  human  restraint  is  there  upon  it? 
He  does,  indeed,  say,  that  it  cannot  be  exerted  so  as  to  interfere 
with  the  territoriarjurisdiction  of  the  states.  But  this  is  a  re 
striction  altogether  gratuitous,  flowing  from  the  bounty  of  the 
President,  and  not  found  in  the  prescriptions  of  the  constitution. 
If  we  have  a  right,  indefinitely,  to  apply  the  money  of  the  gov 
ernment  to  internal  improvements,  or  to  any  other  object,  what 
is  to  prevent  the  application  of  it  to  the  purchase  of  the  sover 
eignty  itself,  of  a  state,  if  a  state  were  mean  enough  to  sell  its 
sovereignty — to  the  purchase  of  kingdoms,  empires,  the  globe  it 
self?  With  an  almost  unlimited  power  of  taxation  ;  and,  after 
the  revenue  is  raised,  with  a  right  to  apply  it  under  no  other 
limitations  than  those  which  the  President's  caution  has  suggest 
ed,  he  could  not  see  what  other  human  power  was  needed.  It 
had  been  said,  by  Ceesar  or  Bonaparte,  no  doubt  thought  by  both, 
that,  with  soldiers  enough,  they  could  get  money  enough ;  and, 
with  money  enough,  they  could  command  soldiers  enough.  Ac 
cording  to  the  President's  interpretation  of  the  constitution,  one 
of  these  great  levers  of  public  force  and  power  is  possessed  by 
this  government.  The  President  seems  to  contemplate,  as  fraught 
with  much  danger,  the  power,  humbly  as  it  is  claimed,  to  effect 
the  internal  improvement  of  the  country.  And,  in  his  attempt  to 
overthrow  it,  sets  up  one  of  infinitely  greater  magnitude.  The 
quantum  of  power  which  we  claim  over  the  subject  of  internal 
improvement,  is,  it  is  true,  of  greater  amount  and  force  than  that 
which  results  from  the  President's  view  of  the  constitution ;  but 
then  it  is  limited  to  the  object  of  internal  improvements ;  whilst 
the  power  set  up  by  the  President  has  no  such  limitation  ;  and, 


136  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

in  effect,  as  Mr.  C.  conceived,  has  no  limitation  whatever,  but 
that  of  the  ability  of  the  people  to  bear  taxation. 

With  the  most  profound  respect  for  the  President,  and  after  the 
most  deliberate  consideration  of  hia  argument,  Mr.  C.  could 
not  agree  with  him.  He  could  not  think  that  any  political  power 
accrued  to  this  government,  from  the  mere  authority  which  it 
possessed  to  appropriate  the  public  revenue.  The  power  to  make 
internal  improvements  drew  after  it,  most  certainly,  the  risrht  to 
appropriate  money  to  consummate  the  object.  But  he  could  not 
conceive  that  this  right  of  appropriation  drew  after  it  the  power 
of  internal  improvements.  The  appropriation  of  money  was 
consequence  not  cause.  It  follows  ;  it  does  not  precede.  Ac 
cording  to  the.  order  of  nature,  we  first  determine  upon  the  object 
to  be  accomplished,  and  then  appropriate  the  money  necessary 
to  its  consummation.  According  to  the  order  of  the  constitution, 
the  power  is  defined,  and  the  application,  that  is,  the  appropria 
tion  of  the  money  requisite  to  its  effectuation,  follows  as  a  neces 
sary  and  proper  means.  The  practice  of  congressional  legisla 
tion  was  conformable  to  both.  We  first  inquire  what  we  may 
do,  and  provide  by  law  for  its  being  done,  and  we  then  appro 
priate,  by  another  act  of  legislation,  the  money  necessary  to  ac- 
accomplish  the  specified  object.  The  error  of  the  argument  lies 
in  its  beginning  too  soon.  It  supposes  the  money  to  be  in  the 
treasury,  and  then  seeks  to  disburse  it.  But  how  came  it  there  ? 
Congress  cannot  impose  taxes  without  an  object.  Their  impos 
ition  must  be  in  reference  to  the  whole  mass  of  our  powers,  to 
the  general  purposes  of  government,  or  with  the  view  to  the  ful 
filment  of  some  one  of  those  powers,  or  to  the  attainment  of  some 
one  of  those  purposes.  In  either  case,  we  consult  the  constitution, 
and  ascertain  the  extent  of  the  authority  which  is  confided  to  us. 
We  cannot,  constitutionally,  lay  the  taxes  without  regard  to  the 
extent  of  our  powers ;  and  then,  having  acquired  the  money 
of  the  public,  appropriate  it,  because  we  have  got  it,  to  any  ob 
ject  indefinitely. 

Nor  did  he  claim  the  power  in  question,  from  the  consent  OF 
grant  of  any  particular  state  or  states,  through  which  an  object 
of  internal  improvement  might  pass.  It  might,  indeed,  be  pru 
dent  to  consult  a  state  through  which  such  an  improvement  might 
happen  to  be  carried,  from  considerations  of  deference  and  re 
spect  to  its  sovereign  power ;  and  from  a  disposition  to  maintain 
those  relations  of  perfect  amity  which  are  ever  desirable,  be 
tween  the  general  and  state  governments.  But  the  power  to 
establish  the  improvement,  must  be  found  in  the  constitution,  or 
it  does  not  exist.  And  what  is  granted  by  all,  it  cannot  be  ne 
cessary  to  obtain  the  consent  of  some  to  perform. 

The  gentleman  from  Virginia,  in  speaking  of  incidental 
powers,  had  used  a  species  of  argument  which  he  entreated  him 
candidly  to  reconsider.  He  had  said,  that  the  chain  of  cause  and 
effect  was  without  end  ;  that  if  we  argued  from  a  power  express*- 
ly  granted  to  all  others,  which  might  be  convenient  or  necessary 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.      137 

to  its  execution,  there  were  no  bounds  to  the  power  of  this  gov 
ernment;  that,  for  example,  under  the  power  "to  provide  and 
maintain  a  navy,"  the  right  might  be  assumed  to  the  timber 
necessary  to  its  construction,  and  the  soil  on  which  it  grew. 
The  gentleman  might  have  added,  the  acorns  from  which  it 
sprung.  What,  upon  the  gentleman's  own  hypothesis,  ought  to 
have  been  his  conclusion  ?  That  Congress  possessed  no  power 
to  provide  and  maintain  a  navy.  Such  a  conclusion  would  have 
been  quite  as  logical,  as  that  Congress  has  no  power  over  inter 
nal  improvements,  from  the  possible  lengths  to  which  this  power 
may  be  pushed.  No  one  ever  had,  or  could,  controvert  the  exist 
ence  of  incidental  powers.  We  may  apply  different  rules  for 
their  extraction,  but  all  must  concur  in  the  necessity  of  their 
actual  existence.  They  result  from  the  imperfections  of  our  na 
ture,  and  from  the  utter  impossibility  of  foreseeing  all  the  turns 
and  vicissitudes  in  human  affairs.  They  cannot  be  defined. 
Much  is  attained  when  the  power,  the  end,  is  specified  and 
guarded.  Keeping  that  constantly  in  view,  the  means  necessary 
to  its  attainment  must  be  left  to  the  sound  and  responsible  discre 
tion  of  the  public  functionary.  Intrench  him  as  you  please,  em 
ploy  what  language  you  may,  in  the  constitutional  instrument, 
"necessary  and  proper,"  "indispensably  necessary,"  or  any 
other,  and  the  question  is  still  left  open,  does  the  proposed  mea 
sure  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  incidental  power,  circumscribed 
as  it  may  be  ?  Your  safety  against  abuse  must  rest  in  his  in 
terest,  his  integrity,  his  responsibility  to  the  exercise  of  the 
elective  franchise  ;  finally,  in  the  ultimate  right,  when  all  other 
redress  fails,  of  an  appeal  to  the  remedy,  to  be  used  only  in  ex 
treme  cases,  of  forcible  resistance  against  intolerable  oppression. 

Doubtless,  by  an  extravagant  and  abusive  enlargement  of  in 
cidental  powers,  the  state  governments  may  be  reduced  within 
too  narrow  limits.  Take  any  power,  however  incontestibly 
granted  to  the  general  government,  and  employ  that  kind  of  pro 
cess^  of  reasoning  in  which  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  is  so 
skilful,  by  tracing  it  to  its  remotest  effects,  you  may  make  it  ab 
sorb  the  powers  of  the  state  governments.  Pursue  the  opposite 
course ;  take  any  incontestible  power  belonging  to  the  state 
governments,  and  follow  it  out  into  all  its  possible'ramifications, 
and  you  make  it  thwart  and  defeat  the  great  operations  of  the 
government  of  the  whole.  This  is  the  consequence  of  our  sys 
tems.  Their  harmony  is  to  be  preserved  only  by  forbearance, 
liberality,  practical  good  sense,  and  mutual  concession.  Bring 
these  dispositions'  into  the  administrations  of  our  various  institi> 
tions,  and  all  the  dreaded  conflicts  of  authorities  will  be  found  to 
be  perfectly  imaginary. 

He  said,  that  he  disclaimed,  for  himself,  several  sources  to 

which  others  had  ascended,  to  arrive  at  the  power  in  question. 

In  making  this  disclaimer,  he  meant  to  cast  no  imputation  on 

them.    He  was  glad  to  meet  them  by  whatever  road  they  tra- 

12*  J 


136  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

veiled,  at  the  point  of  a  constitutional  conclusion.  Nor  did  their 
positions  weaken  his ;  on  the  contrary,  if  correctly  taken,  and 
his  also  were  justified  by  fair  interpretation,  they  added  strength 
to  his.  But  he  felt  it  his  duty,  frankly  and  sincerely,  to  state  his 
own  views  of  the  constitution.  In  coming  to  the  ground  on  which 
(said  Mr.  C.)  I  make  my  stand  to  maintain  the  power,  and 
where  I  am  ready  to  meet  its  antagonist,  I  am  happy,  in  the  out 
set,  to  state  my  hearty  concurrence  with  the  gentleman  from 
Virginia,  in  the  old  1798  republican  principles — now  become  fed 
eral  also — by  which  the  constitution  is  to  be  interpreted.  I 
agree  with  him,  that  this  is  a  limited  government ;  that  it  has  no 
powers  but  the  granted  powers ;  and  that  the  granted  powers 
are  those  which  are  expressly  enumerated,  or  such  as,  being  im 
plied,  are  necessary  and  proper  to  effectuate  the  enumerated 
powers.  And,  if  I  do  not  show  the  power  over  federative,  na 
tional,  internal  improvements,  to  be  fairly  deducible,  after  the 
strictest  application  of  these  principles,  I  entreat  the  committee 
unanimously  to  reject  the  bill.  The  gentleman  from  Virginia 
has  rightly  anticipated,  that,  in  regard  to  roads,  I  claim  the 
power  under  the  grant  to  establish  post  offices  and  post  roads. 
The  whole  question,  on  this  part  of  the  subject,  turns  upon  the 
true  meaning  of  this  clause,  and  that  again  upon  the  genuine 
signification  of  the  word  "  establish."  According  to  my  under 
standing  of  it,  the  meaning  of  it  is,  to  fix,  to  make  firm,  to  build. 
According  to  that  of  the  gentleman  from  Virginia,  it  is  to  desig 
nate,  to  adopt.  Grammatical  criticism  was  to  me  always  un 
pleasant,  and  I  do  not  profess  to  be  any  proficient  in  it.  But  I  will 
confidently  appeal,  in  support  of  my  definition,  to  any  vocabulary 
whatever,  of  respectable  authority,  and  to  the  common  use  of  the 
word.  That  it  could  not  mean  only  adoption  was  to  me  evident, 
for  adoption  presupposes  establishment,  which  is  precedent  in  its 
very  nature.  That  which  does  not  exist,  which  is  not  establish 
ed,  cannot  be  adopted.  There  was,  then,  an  essential  difference 
between  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  and  me.  I  consider  the 
power  as  original  and  creative ;  he  as  derivative,  adoptive.  But 
I  will  show,  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  President  himself,  who  agrees 
with  the  gentleman  from  Virginia,  as  to  the  sense  of  this  word, 
that  what  I  contend  for  is  its  genuine  meaning.  The  President, 
in  almost  the  first  lines  of  his  message  to  this  house,  of  the  fourth 
of  May,  1822,  returning  the  Cumberland  bill  with  his  veto,  says, 
"  a  power  to  establish  turnpikes,  with  gates  and  tolls,  &c.,  implies. 
a  power  to  adopt  and  execute  a  complete  system  of  internal  im 
provement."  What  is  the  sense  in  which  the  word  "  establish'1 
is  here  used  ?  Is  it  not  creative  ?  Did  the  President  mean  to 
adopt  or  designate  some  pre-existing  turnpikes,  with  gates,  &c.? 
or,  for  the  first  time  to  set  them  up,  under  the  authority  of  Con 
gress?  Again,  the  President  says,  "if  it  exist  as  to  one  road, 
[that  is  the  power  to  lay  duties  oi  transit,  and  to  take  the  land  on 
a  valuation,]  it  exists  as  to  any  other,  and  to  as  many  roads  as 
Congress  may  think  proper  to  '  establish.' "  In  what  sense  docs 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.      130 

he  here  employ  the  word  ?  The  truth  is,  that  the  President 
could  employ  no  better  than  the  constitutional  word,  and  he  is 
obliged  to  use  it  in  the  precise  sense  for  which  I  contend.  But 
I  go  to  a  higher  authority  than  that  of  the  chief  magistrate — to 
that  of  the  constitution  itself.  In  expounding  that  instrument, 
we  must  look  at  all  its  parts  ;  and,  if  we  find  a  word,  the  mean 
ing  of  which  it  is  desirable  to  obtain,  we  may  safely  rest  upon 
the  use  which  has  been  made  of  the  same  word  in  other  parts  of 
the  instrument.  The  word  "  establish"  is  one  of  frequent  re 
currence  in  the  constitution ;  and  I  venture  to  say  that  it  will  be 
found  uniformly  to  express  the  same  idea.  In  the  clause  enume 
rating  our  powers.  "Congress  has  power  to  establish  a  uniform 
rule  of  naturalization,"  &c.  In  the  preamble,  "  we,  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  &c.,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  constitution," 
&c.  What  pre-existing  code  of  justice  was  adopted?  Did  not 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  this  high  sovereign  act,  con 
template  the  construction  of  a  code  adapted  to  their  federal  con 
dition?  The  sense  of  the  word,  as  contended  for,  was  self-evi 
dent  when  applied  to  the  constitution. 

But  let  us  look  at  the  nature,  object  and  purposes  of  the  pow 
er.  The  trust  confided  to  Congress  was  one  of  the  most  bene 
ficial  character.  It  was  the  diffusion  of  information  among  all 
the  parts  of  this  republic.  It  was  the  transmission  and  circula 
tion  of  intelligence;  it  was  to  communicate  knowledge  of  the 
laws  and  acts  of  government,  and  to  promote  the  great  business 
of  society  in  all  its  relations.  This  was  a  great  trust,  capable 
of  being  executed  in  a  highly  salutary  manner.  It  could  be 
executed  only  by  Congress,  and  it  should  be  as  well  performed 
as  it  could  be,  considering  the  wants  and  exigencies  of  govern 
ment.  And  here  I  beg  leave  to  advert  to  the  principle  which  I 
some  time  ago  laid  down,  that  the  powers  granted  to  this  gov 
ernment  are  to  be  carried  into  execution  by  its  own  inherent 
force  and  energy,  without  necessary  dependence  upon  the  State 
governments.  If  my  construction  secures  this  object;  and  if 
that  of  my  opponents  places  the  execution  of  this  trust  at  the 
pleasure  and  mercy  of  the  State  governments,  we  must  reject 
theirs,  and  assume  mine.  But  the  construction  of  the  President 
does  make  it  so  dependent.  He  contends  that  we  can  only  use 
as  post  roads  those  which  the  States  shall  have  previously  es 
tablished;  that  they  are  at  liberty  to  alter,  to  change,  and  of 
course  to  shut  them  up  at  pleasure.  It  results  from  this  view 
of  the  President,  that  any  of  the  great  mail  routes  now  existing, 
that  for  example  from  south  to  north,  may  be  closed  at  pleasure 
or  by  caprice,  by  any  one  of  the  States,  or  its  authorities,  through 
which  it  passes,  by  that  of  Delaware,  or  any  other.  Is  it  possi 
ble  that  that  construction  of  the  constitution  can  be  correct, 
which  allows  a  law  of  the  United  States,  enacted  for  the  good 
of  the  whole,  to  be  obstructed  or  defeated  in  its  operation  by  any 
one  of  twenty-four  sovereignties?  The  gentleman  from  Virgi- 


140  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

nia,  it  is  true,  denies  the  right  of  a  State  to  close  a  road  which 
has  been  designated  as  a  post  road.  But  suppose  the  State,  no 
longer  having  occasion  to  use  it  for  its  own  separate  and  pecu 
liar  purposes,  withdraws  all  care  and  attention  from  its  preser 
vation.  Can  the  State  be  compelled  to  repair  it?  No!  the 
gentleman  from  Virginia  must  say,  and  I  will  say — may  not  the 

feneral  government  repair  this  road  which  is  abandoned  by  the 
tate  power?  May  it  not  repair  it  in  the  most  efficacious  man 
ner?  And  may  it  not  protect  and  defend  that  which  it  has  thus 
repaired,  and  which  there  is  no  longer  an  interest  or  inclination 
in  the  State  to  protect  and  defend?  Or  does  the  gentleman 
mean  to  contend  that  a  road  may  exist  in  the  statute  book,  which 
a  State  will  not,  and  the  general  government  cannot,  repair  and 
improve?  And  what  sort  of  an  account  should  we  render,  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  of  the  execution  of  the  high 
trust  confided,  for  their  benefit  to  us,  if  we  were  to  tell  them  that 
we  had  failed  to  execute  it,  because  a  State  would  not  make  a 
road  for  us? 

The  roads,  and  other  internal  improvements  of  States,  are 
made  in  reference  to  their  individual  interests.  It  is  the  eye  only 
of  the  whole,  and  the  power  of  the  whole,  that  can  look  to  the 
interests  of  all.  In  the  infancy  of  the  government,  and  in  the 
actual  state  of  the  public  treasury,  it  may  be  the  only  alternative 
Left  us  to  use  those  roads,  which  are  made  for  State  purposes,  to 
promote  the  national  object,  ill  as  they  may  be  adapted  to  it. 
It  may  never  be  necessary  to  make  more  than  a  few  great  na 
tional  arteries  of  communication,  leaving  to  the  States  the  lateral 
and  minor  ramifications.  Even  these  should  only  be  executed, 
without  pressure  upon  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  accord 
ing  to  the  convenience  and  ability  of  government.  But,  surely, 
in  the  performance  of  a  great  national  duty  imposed  upon  this 
government,  which  has  for  its  object  the  distribution  of  intelli 
gence,  civil,  commercial,  literary  and  social,  we  ought  to  perform 
The  substance  of  the  trust,  and  not  content  ourselves  with  a  mere 
inefficient  paper  execution  of  it.  If  I  am  right  in  these  views, 
the  power  to  establish  post  roads  being  in  its  nature  original  and 
creative,  and  the  government  having  adopted  the  roads  made  by 
State  means  only" from  its  inability  to  exert  the  whole  extent  of 
its  authority,  the  controverted  power  is  expressly  granted  to 
Congress,  and  there  is  an  end  of  the  question. 

It  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  this  power  over  roads  was 
not  contained  in  the  articles  of  confederation,  which  limited  Con 
gress  to  the  establishment  of  post-offices ;  and  that  the  general 
character  of  the  present  constitution,  as  contrasted  with  those 
articles,  is  that  of  an  enlargement  of  power.  But,  if  the  con 
struction  of  my  opponents  be  correct,  we  are  left  precisely 
where  the  articles  of  confederation  left  us,  notwithstanding  the 
additional  wrords  contained  in  the  present  constitution.  What, 
too,  will  the  gentlemen  do  with  the  first  member  of  the  clause  to 
establish  post  offices'?  Must  Congress  adopt,  designate,  some 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.      141 

pre-existing  office,  established  by  state  author/ty?  But  there  is 
none  such.  May  it  not  then  fix,  build,  create,  establish  offices 
of  its  own? 

The  gentleman  from  Virginia  sought  to  alarm  us  by  the  awful 
emphasis  with  which  he  set  before  us  the  total  extent  of  post 
roads  in  the  Union.  Eighty  thousand  miles  of  post  roads!  ex 
claimed  the  gentleman ;  and  you  will  assert  for  the  general  gov 
ernment  jurisdiction,  and  erect  turnpikes,  on  such  an  immense 
distance?  Not  to-day,  nor  to-morrow;  but  this  government  is  to 
last,  I  trust,  forever ;  we  may  at  least  hope  it  will  endure  until 
the  wave  of  population,  cultivation  and  intelligence  shall  have 
washed  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  mingled  with  the  Pacific. 
And  may  we  not  also  hope  that  the  day  will  arrive  when  the  im 
provements  and  the  comforts  of  social  life  shall  spread  over  the 
wide  surface  of  this  vast  continent?  All  this  is  not  to  be  sud 
denly  done.  Society  must  not  be  burthened  or  oppressed. — 
Tilings  must  be  gradual  and  progressive.  The  same  species 
of  formidable  array  which  the  gentleman  makes,  might  be  ex 
hibited  in  reference  to  the  construction  of  a  navy,  or  any  other 
of  the  great  purposes  of  government.  We  might  be  told  of  the 
fleets  and  vessels  of  great  maritime  powers,  which  whiten  the 
ocean ;  and  triumphantly  asked  if  we  should  vainly  attempt  to 
cope  with  or  rival  that  tremendous  power?  And  we  should 
shrink  from  the  effort,  if  we  were  to  listen  to  his  counsels,  in 
hopeless  despair.  Yes,  sir,  it  is  a  subject  of  peculiar  delight  to 
me  to  look  forward  to  the  proud  and  happy  period,  distant  as  it 
may  be,  when  circulation  and  association  between  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Pacific  and  the  Mexican  gulf,  shall  be  as  free  and  perfect 
as  they  are  at  this  moment  in  England,  or  in  any  other  the  most 
highly  improved  country  on  the  globe.  In  the  mean  time,  with 
out  bearing  heavily  upon  any  of  our  important  interests,  let  us 
apply  ourselves  to  the  accomplishment  of  what  is  most  practica 
ble,  and  immediately  necessary. 

But  what  most  staggers  my  honorable  friend,  is  the  jurisdic 
tion  over  the  sites  of  roads  and  other  internal  improvements, 
which  he  supposes  Congress  might  assume ;  and  he  considers 
the  exercise  of  such  a  jurisdiction  as  furnishing  the  just  occasion 
for  serious  alarm.  Let  us  analyze  the  subject.  Prior  to  the 
erection  of  a  road  under  the  authority  of  the  general  govern 
ment,  there  existed,  in  the  state  through  which  it  passes,  no  ac 
tual  exercise  of  jurisdiction  over  the  ground  which  it  traverses 
as  a  road.  There  was  only  the  possibility  of  the  exercise  of 
such  a  jurisdiction,  when  the  state  should,  if  ever,  erect  such  a 
road.  But  the  road  is  made  by  the  authority  of  Congress,  and 
out  of  the  fact  of  its  erection  arises  a  necessity  for  its  preserva 
tion  and  protection.  The  road  is  some  thirty  or  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
in  width,  and  with  that  narrow  limit  passes  through  a  part  of  the 
territory  of  the  state.  The  capital  expended  in  the  making  of 
the  road  incorporates  itself  with  and  becomes  a  part  of  the  per 
manent  and  immovable  property  of  the  state.  The  jurisdiction 


142  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

which  is  claimed  for  the  general  government,  is  that  only  which 
relates  to  the  necessary  defence,  protection,  and  preservation,  of 
the  road.  It  is  of  a  character  altogether  conservative.  What 
ever  does  not  relate  to  the  existence  and  protection  of  the  road 
remains  with  the  state.  Murders,  trespasses,  contracts,  all  the 
occurrences  and  transactions  of  society  upon  the  road,  not  affect 
ing  its  actual  existence,  will  fall  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
civil  or  criminal  tribunals  of  the  state,  as  if  the  road  had  never 
been  brought  into  existence.  How  much  remains  to  the  state ! 
How  little  is  claimed  for  the  general  government !  Is  it  possible 
that  a  jurisdiction  so  limited,  so  harmless,  so  unambitious,  can  be 
regarded  as  seriously  alarming  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  states ! 
Congress  now  asserts  and  exercises,  without  contestation,  a  pow 
er  to  protect  the  mail  in  its  transit,  by  the  sanction  of  all  suitable 
penalties.  The  man  who  violates  it  is  punished  with  death,  or 
otherwise,  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  This 
power  is  exerted  as  incident  to  that  of  establishing  post  offices 
and  post  roads.  Is  the  protection  of  the  thing  in  transitu  a  pow 
er  more  clearly  deducible  from  the  grant,  than  that  of  facilitating, 
by  means  of  a  practicable  road,  its  actual  transportation?  Mails 
certainly  imply  roads,  roads  imply  their  own  preservation,  their 
preservation  implies  the  power  to  preserve  them,  and  the  consti 
tution  tells  us,  in  express  terms,  that  we  shall  establish  the  one 
and  the  other. 

In  respect  to  cutting  canals,  I  admit  the  question  is  not  quite 
so  clear  as  in  regard  to  roads.  With  respect  to  these,  as  I  have 
endeavored  to  show,  the  power  is  expressly  granted.  In  regard 
to  canals,  it  appears  to  me  to  be  fairly  comprehended  in,  or  de 
ducible  from,  certain  granted  powers.  Congress  has  power  to 
regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and  among  the  several 
states.  Precisely  the  same  measure  of  power  which  is  granted  in 
the  one  case  is  conferred  in  the  other.  And  the  uniform  practi 
cal  exposition  of  the  constitution,  as  to  the  regulation  of  foreign 
commerce,  is  equally  applicable  to  that  among  the  several  states. 
Suppose,  instead  of  directing  the  legislation  of  this  government 
constantly,  as  heretofore,  to  the  object  of  foreign  commerce,  to 
the  utter  neglect  of  the  interior  commerce  among  the  several 
states,  the  fact  had  been  reversed,  and  now,  for  the  first  time,  we 
were  about  to  legislate  for  our  foreign  trade :  Should  we  not,  in 
that  case,  hear  all  the  constitutional  objections  made  to  the  erec 
tion  of  buoys,  beacons,  light-houses,  the  surveys  of  coasts,  and 
the  other  numerous  facilities  accorded  to  the  foreign  trade,  which 
we  now  hear  to  the  making  of  roads  and  canals  ?  Two  years 
ago,  a  sea-wall,  or,  in  other  words,  a  marine  canal,  was  author 
ized  by  an  act  of  Congress,  in  New-Hampshire  ;  and  I  doubt  not 
that  many  of  those  voted  for  it  who  have  now  constitutional  scru 
ples  on  this  bill.  Yes,  any  thing,  every  thing,  may  be  done  for 
foreign  commerce ;  any  thing,  every  thing,  on  the  margin  of  the 
ocean ;  but  nothing  for  domestic  trade  ;  nothing  for  the  great  in 
terior  of  the  country !  Yet,  the  equity  and  the  beneficence  of 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.  143 

the  constitution  equally  comprehends  both.  The  gentleman 
does,  indeed,  maintain  that  there  is  a  difference  as  to  the  charac 
ter  of  the  facilities  in  the  two  cases.  But  I  put  it  to  his  own  can 
dor,  whether  the  only  difference  is  not  that  which  springs  from 
the  nature  of  the  two  elements  on  which  the  two  species  of  com 
merce  are  conducted — the  difference  between  land  and  water. 
The  principle  is  the  same,  whether  you  promote  commerce  by 
opening  for  it  an  artificial  channel  where  now  there  is  none,  or 
by  increasing  the  ease  or  safety  with  which  it  may  be  conducted 
through  a  natural  channel  which  the  bounty  of  Providence  has 
bestowed.  In  the  one  case,  your  object  is  to  facilitate  arrival  and 
departure  from  the  ocean  to  the  land.  In  the  other,  it  is  to  ac 
complish  the  same  object  from  the  land  to  the  ocean.  Physical 
obstacles  may  be  greater  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other,  but 
the  moral  or  constitutional  power  equally  includes  both.  The 
gentleman  from  Virginia  had,  to  be  sure,  contended  that  the 
power  to  make  these  commercial  facilities  was  to  be  found  in 
another  clause  of  the  constitution — that  which  enables  Congress 
to  obtain  cessions  of  territory  for  specific  objects,  and  grants  to 
it  an  exclusive  jurisdiction.  These  cessions  may  be  obtained  for 
the  "'  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards,  or  other 
needful  buildings."  It  is  apparent  that  it  relates  altogether  to 
military  or  naval  affairs,  and  not  to  the  regulation  of  commerce. 
How  was  the  marine  canal  covered  by  this  clause  ?  Is  it  to  be 
considered  as  a  "needful  building?"  The  object  of  this  power 
is  perfectly  obvious.  The  convention  saw  that,  in  military  or 
naval  posts,  such  as  are  indicated,  it  was  indispensably  necessa 
ry,  for  their  proper  government,  to  vest  in  Congress  the  power 
of  exclusive  legislation.  If  we  claimed  over  objects  of  internal 
improvement  an  exclusive  jurisdiction,  the  gentleman  might, 
urge,  with  much  force,  the  clause  in  question.  But  the  claim  of 
concurrent  jurisdiction  only  is  asserted.  The  gentleman  pro 
fesses  himself  unable  to  comprehend  how  concurrent  jurisdiction 
can  be  exercised  by  two  different  governments  at  1lie  same  time 
over  the  same  persons  and  things.  But,  is  not  this  the  fact  with 
respect  to  the  state  and  federal  governments ?  Does  not  every 
person,  and  every  thing,  within  our  limits,  sustain  a  two-fold  re 
lation  to  the  state  and  to  the  federal  authority  ?  The  power  of 
taxation  as  exerted  by  both  governments,  that  over  the  militia, 
besides  many  others,  is  concurrent.  No  doubt  embarrassing  ca 
ses  may  be  conceived  and  stated  by  gentlemen  of  acute  and  in 
genious  minds.  One  was  put  to  me  yesterday.  Two  canals  are 
desired,  one  by  the  federal,  and  the  other  by  a  state  government; 
and  there  is  not  a  supply  of  water  but  for  the  feeder  of  one  ca 
nal — which  is  to  take  it?  The  constitution,  which  ordains  the 
supremacy  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  answers  the  ques 
tion.  The  good  of  the  whole  is  paramount  to  the  good  of  a  part 
The  same  difficulty  might  possibly  arise  in  the  exercise  of  the 
incontestible  power  of  taxation.  We  know  that  the  imposition 
of  taxes  has  its  limits.  There  is  a  maximum  which  cannot  be 


144      ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

transcended.  Suppose  the  citizen  to  be  taxed  by  the  general 
government  to  the  utmost  extent  of  his  ability,  or  a  thing  as  much 
as  it  can  possibly  bear,  and  the  state  imposes  a  tax  at  the  same 
time,  which  authority  is  to  take  it?  Extreme  cases  of  this  sort 
may  serve  to  amuse  and  to  puzzle ;  but  they  will  hardly  ever 
arise  in  practice.  And  we  may  safely  confide  in  the  moderation, 
good  sense,  and  mutual  good  dispositions,  of  the  two  govern 
ments,  to  guard  against  the  imagined  conflicts. 

It  is  said  by  the  President,  that  the  power  to  regulate  com 
merce  merely  authorizes  the  laying  of  imposts  and  duties.  But 
Congress  has  no  power  to  lay  imposts  and  duties  on  the  trade 
among  the  several  states.  The  grant  must  mean,  therefore, 
something  else.  What  is  it  ?  The  power  to  regulate  commerce 
among  the  several  states,  if  it  has  any  meaning,  implies  authority 
to  foster  it,  to  promote  it,  to  bestow  on  it  facilities  similar  to  those 
which  have  been  conceded  to  our  foreign  trade.  It  cannot  mean 
only  an  empty  authority  to  adopt  regulations,  without  the  capa 
city  to  give  practical  effect  to  them.  All  the  powers  of  this  gov 
ernment  should  be  interpreted  in  reference  to  its  first,  its  best  its 
greatest  object,  the  union  of  these  states.  And  is  not  that  union 
best  invigorated  by  an  intimate,  social,  and  commercial  connexion 
between  all  the  parts  of  the  confederacy  ?  Can  that  be  accom 
plished,  that  is,  can  the  federative  objects  of  this  government  be 
attained,  but  by  the  application  of  federative  resources  ? 

Of  all  the  powers  bestowed  on  this  government,  Mr.  Clay 
thought  none  were  more  clearly  vested,  than  that  to  regulate 
the  distribution  of  the  intelligence,  private  and  official,  of  the 
country ;  to  regulate  the  distribution  of  its  commerce  ;  and  to 
regulate  the  distribution  of  the  physical  force  of  the  Union.  In 
the  execution  of  the  high  and  solemn  trust  which  these  beneficial 
powers  imply,  we  must  look  to  the  great  ends  which  the  framers 
of  our  admirable  constitution  had  in  view.  We  must  reject,  as 
wholly  incompatible  with  their  enlightened  and  beneficent  in 
tentions,  that  construction  of  these  powers  which  would  resusci 
tate  all  the  debility  and  inefficiency  of  the  ancient  confederacy. 
In  the  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs,  who  can  foresee  all  the  pos 
sible  cases,  ia  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  apply  the  public 
force,  within  or  without  the  Union?  This  government  is  charg 
ed  with  the  use  of  it,  to  repel  invasions,  to  suppress  insurrections, 
to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Union ;  in  short,  for  all  the  unknown 
and  urulefinable  purposes  of  war,  foreign  or  intestine,  wherever 
and  however  it  may  rage.  During  its  existence,  may  not  gov 
ernment,  for  its  effectual  prosecution,  order  a  road  to  be  made,  or 
a  canal  to  be  cut,  to  relieve,  for  example,  an  exposed  point  of 
the  Union  ?  If,  when  the  emergency  comes,  there  is  a  power  to 
provide  for  it,  that  power  must  exist  in  the  constitution,  and  not 
in  the  emergency.  A  wise,  precautionary,  and  parental  policy, 
anticipating  danger,  will  before  hand  provide  for  the  hour  of 
need.  Roads  and  canals  are  in  the  nature  of  fortifications,  since, 
if  r0*  th<*  deposites  of  military  resources,  they  enable  you  to  bring 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.  145 

into  rapid  action,  the  military  resources  of  the  country,  whatever 
they  maybe.  They  are  better  than  any  fortifications,  because  they 
serve  the  double  purposes  of  peace  and  of  war.  They  dispense  in 
a  great  degree,  with  fortifications,  since  they  have  all  the  effect  of 
that  concentration,  at  which  fortifications  aim.  I  appeal  from  the 

Erecepts  of  the  President  to  the  practice  of  the  President.  While 
e  denies  to  Congress  the  power  in  question,  he  does  not  scruple, 
upon  his  sole  authority,  as  numerous  instances  in  the  statute  book 
will  testify,  to  order,  at  pleasure,  the  opening  of  roads  by  the  mili 
tary,  and  then  come  here  to  ask  us  to  pay  for  them.  Nay,  more,  sir; 
a  subordinate  but  highly  respectable  officer  of  the  executive  gov 
ernment  I  believe  would  not  hesitate  to  provide  a  boat  or  cause  a 
bridge  to  be  erected  over  an  inconsiderable  stream,  to  ensure  the 
regular  transportation  of  the  mail.  And  it  happens  to  be  within  my 
personal  knowledge,  that  the  head  of  the  post-office  department,  as 
a  prompt  and  vigilant  officer  should  do,  had  recently  despatched 
an  agent  to  ascertain  the.  causes  of  the  late  frequent  vexatious  fail 
ures  of  the  great  northern  mail,  and  to  inquire  if  a  provision  of  a 
boat  or  bridge  over  certain  small  streams  in  Maryland,  which 
have  produced  them,  would  not  prevent  their  recurrence. 

I  was  much  surprised  at  one  argument  of  the  honorable  gen 
tleman.  He  told  the  house,  that  the  constitution  had  carefully 
guarded  against  inequality,  among  the  several  states,  in  the  pub 
lic  burthens,  by  certain  restrictions  upon  the  power  of  taxation ; 
that  the  effect  of  the  adoption  of  a  system  of  internal  improve 
ments  would  be  to  draw  the  resources  from  one  part  of  the  Union, 
and  to  expend  them  in  the  improvements  of  another ;  and  that 
the  spirit,  at  least,  of  the  constitutional  equality,  would  be  thus 
violated.  From  the  nature  of  things,  the  constitution  could  not 
specify  the  theatre  of  the  expenditure  of  the  public  treasure. 
That  expenditure,  guided  by  and  looking  to  the  public  good, 
must  be  made,  necessarily,  where  it  will  most  subserve  the  interests 
of  the  whole  Union.  The  argument  is,  that  the  locale  of  the 
collection  of  the  public  contributions,  and  the  locale  of  their  dis 
bursement,  should  be  the  same.  Now,  sir,  let  us  carry  this  ar 
gument  out ;  and  no  man  is  more  capable  than  the  ingenious 
gentleman  from  Virginia,  of  tracing  an  argument  to  its  utmost 
consequences.  The  locale  of  the  collection  of  the  public  revenue 
is  the  pocket  of  the  citizen ;  and,  to  abstain  from  the  violation 
of  the  principle  of  equality  adverted  to  by  the  gentleman,  we 
should  restore  back  into  each  man's  pocket  precisely  what  was 
taken  from  it.  If  the  principle  contended  for  be  true,  we  are  habitu 
ally  violating  it.  We  raise  about  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  a 
very  large  revenue,  considering  the  actual  distresses  of  the 
country.  And,  sir,  notwithstanding  all  the  puffing,  flourishing 
statements  of  its  prosperity,  emanating  from  printers  who  are 
fed  upon  the  pap  of  the  public  treasury,  the  whole  country  is  in  a 
condition  of  very  great  distress.  Where  is  this  vast  revenue  ex 
pended  ?  Boston,  New-York,  the  great  capitals  of  the  north,  are 
13 


146      ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

the  theatres  of  its  disbursement.  There  the  interest  upon  the 
public  debt  is  paid.  There  the  expenditure  in  the  building, 
equipment,  and  repair  of  the  national  vessels  takes  place.  There 
all  the  great  expenditures  of  the  government  necessarily  concen 
trate.  This  is  no  cause  of  just  complaint.  It  is  inevitable,  re 
sulting  from  the  accumulation  of  capital,  the  state  of  the  arts, 
and  other  circumstances  belonging  to  our  great  cities.  But, 
sir,  if  there  be  a  section  of  this  Union  having  more  right  than 
any  other  to  complain  of  this  transfer  of  the  circulating  medium 
from  one  quarter  of  the  Union  to  another,  the  west,  the  poor 
west— [Here  Mr.  Barbour  explained.  He  had  meant  that  the 
constitution  limited  Congress  as  to  the  proportions  of  revenue  to 
be  drawn  from  the  several  states ;  but  the  principle  of  this 
provision  would  be  vacated  by  internal  improvements  of  im 
mense  expense,  and  yet  of  a  local  character.  Our  public  ships, 
to  be  sure,  are  built  at  the  seaports,  but  they  do  not  remain  there. 
Their  home  is  the  mountain  wave;  but  internal  improvements  are 
essentially  local;  they  touch  the  soil  of  the  states,  and  their  bene 
fits,  at  least  the  largest  part  of  them,  are  confined  to  the  states 
where  they  exist.]  The  explanation  of  the  gentleman  has  not 
materially  varied  the  argument.  He  says  that  the  home  of  our 
ships  is  the  mountain  wave.  Sir,  if  the  ships  go  to  sea,  the 
money  with  which  they  were  built,  or  refitted,  remains  on  shore, 
and  the  cities  where  the  equipment  takes  place  derive  the  bene 
fit  of  the  expenditure.  It  requires  no  stretch  of  the  imagination 
to  conceive  the  profitable  industry — the  axes,  the  hnmmers,  the 
saws — the  mechanic  arts,  which  are  put  in  motion  by  this  expendi 
ture.  And  all  these,  and  other  collateral  advantages,  are  enjoyed 
by  the  seaports.  The  navy  is  built  for  the  interest  of  the  whole. 
Internal  improvements  of  that  general,  federative  character,  for 
which  we  contend  would  also  be  for  the  interest  of  the  whole. 
And,  I  should  think  their  abiding  with  us.  and  not  going  abroad 
on  the  vast  deep,  was  rather  cause  of  recommendation  than  ob 
jection. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  there  be  any  part  of  this  Union  more 
likely  than  all  others  to  be  benefitted  by  the  adoption  of  the 
gentleman's  principle,  regulating  the  public  expenditure,  it  is  the 
west  There  is  a  perpetual  drain,  from  that  embarrassed  and 
highly  distressed  portion  of  our  country,  of  its  circulating  medi 
um  to  the  east.  There,  but  few  and  inconsiderable  expenditures 
of  the  public  money  take  place.  There  we  have  none  of  those 
public  works,  no  magnificent  edifices,  forts,  armories,  arsenals, 
dockyards,  &c.,  which,  more  or  less,  are  to  be  found  in  every 
Atlantic  State.  In  at  least  seven  States  bryond  the  Alleghany, 
not  one  solitary  public  work  of  this  government  is  to  be  found. 
If,  by  one  of  those  awful  and  terrible  dispensations  of  Providence 
which  sometimes  occur,  this  government  should  be  unhappily 
annihilated,  every  where  on  the  sea-board  traces  of  its  former 
existence  would  be  found;  whilst  we  should  not  have,  in  the 
west,  a  single  monument  remaining,  on  which  to  pour  out  our 


ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT.  147 

affections  and  our  regrets.  Yet,  sir,  we  do  not  complain.  No 
portion  of  your  population  is  more  loyal  to  the  Union,  than  the 
hardy  freemen  of  the  west.  Nothing  can  weaken  or  eradicate 
their  ardent  desire  for  its  lasting  preservation.  None  are  more 
prompt  to  vindicate  the  interests  and  rights  of  the  nation  from 
all  foreign  aggression.  Need  I  remind  you  of  the  glorious 
scenes  in  which  they  participated  during  the  late  war — a  war  in 
which  they  had  no  peculiar  or  direct  interest,  waged  for  no  com 
merce,  no  seamen  of  theirs.  But  it  was  enough  for  them  that 
it  was  a  Avar  demanded  by  the  character  and  the  honor  of  the 
nation.  They  did  not  stop  to  calculate  its  cost  of  blood,  or  of 
treasure.  They  flew  to  arms ;  they  rushed  down  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  with  all  the  impetuosity  of  that  noble  river. 
They  sought  the  enemy.  ,Tliey  found  him  at  the  beach.  They 
fought;  they  bled;  they  covered  themselves  and  their  country 
with  immortal  glory.  They  enthusiastically  shared  in  all  the 
transports  occasioned  by  our  victories,  whether  won  on  the  ocean 
or  on  the  land.  They  felt,  with  the  keenest  distress,  whatever 
disaster  befel  us.  No.  sir.  I  repeat  it,  neglect,  injury  itself,  can 
not  alienate  the  affections  of  the  west  from  this  government. 
They  cling  to  it,  as  to  their  best,  their  greatest,  their  last  hope. 
You  may  impoverish  them,  reduce  them  to  ruin,  by  the  mistakes 
of  your  policy,  and  you  cannot  drive  them  from  you.  They  do 
not  complain  of  the  expenditure  of  the  public  money,  where  the 
public  exigencies  require  its  disbursement.  But,  I  put  it  to  your 
candor,  if  you  ought  not,  by  a  generous  and  national  policy,  to 
mitigate,  if  not  prevent  the  evils  resulting  from  the  perpetual 
transfer  of  the  circulating  medium  from  the  west  to  the  east. 
One  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  annually,  is  transferred  for  the 
public  lands  alone;  and  almost  every  dollar  goes,  like  him  who 
goes  to  death — to  a  bourne  from  which  no  traveller  returns.  In 

ten  years  it  will  amount  to  fifteen  millions;  in  twenty  to but 

I  will  not  pursue  the  appalling  results  of  arithmetic.  Gentlemen 
who  believe  that  these  vast  sums  are  supplied  by  emigrants  from 
the  east,  labor  raider  great  error.  There  was  a  time  when  the 
tide  of  emigration  from  the  east  bore  along  with  it  the  means 
to  effect  the  purchase  of  the  public  domain.  But  that  tide  has, 
in  a  great  measure,  now  stopt.  And,  as  population  advances 
farther  and  farther  west,  it  will  entirely  cease.  The  greatest 
migrating  States  in  the  Union,  at  this  time,  are  Kentucky  first, 
Ohio  next,  and  Tennessee.  The  emigrants  from  those  States 
carry  with  them,  to  the  States  and  Territories  lying  beyond 
them,  the  circulating  medium,  which,  being  invested  in  the  pur 
chase  of  the  public  land,  is  transmitted  to  the  points  where  the 
wants  of  government  require  it.  If  this  debilitating  and  ex 
hausting  process  were  inevitable,  it  must  be  borne  with  manly 
fortitude,  But  we  think  that  a  fit  exertion  of  the  powers  of  this 
government  would  mitigate  the  evil.  We  believe  that  the  gov 
ernment  incontestibly  possesses  the  constitutional  power  to  exe 
cute  such  internal  improvements  as  are  called  for  by  the  good 


148  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT. 

of  the  whole.  And  we  appeal  to  your  equity,  to  your  parental 
regard,  to  your  enlightened  policy,  to  perform  the  high  and  bene 
ficial  trust  thus  sacredly  reposed.  I  am  sensible  of  the  delicacy 
of  the  topic  to  which  I  have  reluctantly  adverted,  in  consequence 
of  the  observations  of  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Virginia. 
And  I  hope  there  will  be  no  misconception  of  my  motives  in 
dwelling  upon  it.  A  wise  and  considerate  government  should 
anticipate  and  prevent,  rather  than  wait  for  the  operation  of 
causes  of  discontent. 

Let  me  ask,  Mr.  Chairman,  what  has  this  government  done 
on  the  great  subject  of  internal  improvements,  after  so  many 
years  of  its  existence,  and  with  such  an  inviting  field  before  it? 
You  have  made  the  Cumberland  road,  only.  Gentlemen  appear 
to  have  considered  that  a  western  road.  They  ought  to  recol 
lect  that  not  one  stone  has  yet  been  broken,  not  one  spade  of 
earth  has  been  yet  removed  in  any  western  State.  The  road 
begins  in  Maryland,  and  it  terminates  at  Wheeling.  It  passes 
through  the  States  of  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia. 
All  the  direct  benefit  of  the  expenditure  of  the  public  money  on 
that  road,  has  accrued  to  those  three  States ;  not  one  cent  in  any 
western  State.  And  yet  we  have  had  to  beg,  entreat,  suppli 
cate  you,  session  after  session,  to  grant  the  necessary  appropria 
tions  to  complete  the  road.  I  have  myself  toiled  until  my  powers 
have  been  exhausted  and  prostrated,  to  prevail  on  you  to  make 
the  grant.  We  were  actuated  to  make  these  exertions  for  the 
sake  of  the  collateral  benefit  only  to  the  west ;  that  we  might 
have  a  way  by  which  we  should  be  able  to  continue  and  main 
tain  an  affectionate  intercourse  with  our  friends  and  brethren — 
that  we  might  have  a  way  to  reach  the  capitol  of  our  country, 
and  to  bring  our  councils,  humble  as  they  may  be,  to  consult 
and  mingle  with  yours  in  the  advancement  of  the  national  pros 
perity.  Yes,  sir,  the  Cumberland  road  has  only  reached  the 
margin  of  a  western  State ;  and,  from  some  indications  which 
have  been  given  during  this  session,  I  should  apprehend  it  would 
there  pause  forever,  if  my  confidence  in  you  were  not  unbounded ; 
if  I  had  not  before  witnessed  that  appeals  were  never  unsuc 
cessful  to  your  justice,  to  your  magnanimity,  to  your  fraternal 
affection. 

But,  sir,  the  bill  on  your  table  is  no  western  bill.  It  is  em 
phatically  a  national  bill,  comprehending  all,  looking  to  the  in 
terests  of  the  whole.  The  people  of  the  west  never  thought  of, 
never  desired,  never  asked,  for  a  system  exclusively  for  their 
benefit.  The  system  contemplated  by  this  bill  looks  to  great  na 
tional  objects,  and  proposes  the  ultimate  application  to  theii 
accomplishment  of  the  only  means  by  which  they  can  be  effected, 
the  means  of  the  nation— means  which,  if  they  be  withheld  from 
such  objects,  the  Union,  I  do  most  solemnly  believe,  of  these 
now  happy  and  promising  States,  may,  at  some  distant  (I  trust 
a  far,  far  distant)  day  may  be  endangered  and  shaken  at  ita 
centre. 


ON  THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION.  149 

ON  THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION. 

Speech  on  the  Greek  Revolution,  delivered  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  20th  January,  1824. 

Mr.  Clay  rose,  and  commenced  his  speech  by  distinctly  stating 
the  original  resolution,  as  moved  by  Mr.  Webster,  and  the 
amendment  proposed  to  it  by  Mr.  Poinsett.  The  resolution  pro 
posed  a  provision  of  the  means  to  defray  the  expense  of  deputing 
a  commissioner  or  agent  to  Greece,  whenever  the  President,  who 
knows,  or  ought  to  know,  the  disposition  of  all  the  European 
powers,  Turkish  or  Christian,  shall  deem  it  proper.  The  amend 
ment  goes  to  withhold  any  appropriation  to  that  object,  but  to 
make  a  public  declaration  of  our  sympathy  with  the  Greeks, 
and  of  our  good  wishes  for  the  success  of  their  cause.  And 
how  has  this  simple,  unpretending,  unambitious,  this  harmless 
proposition,  been  treated  in  debate?  It  has  been  argued  as  if  it 
offered  aid  to  the  Greeks;  as  if  it  proposed  the  recognition 
of  the  independence  of  their  government;  as  a  measure  of  un 
justifiable  interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  a  foreign  state, 
and  finally,  as  war,  And  they  who  thus  argue  the  question, 
whilst  they  absolutely  surrender  themselves  to  the  illusions  of 
their  own  fervid  imaginations,  and  depict,  in  glowing  terms,  the 
monstrous  and  alarming  consequences  which  are  to  spring  out 
of  a  proposition  so  simple,  impute  to  us.  who  are  its  humble  ad 
vocates,  quixotism,  quixotism  !  Whilst  they  are  taking  the  most 
extravagant  and  boundless  range,  and  arguing  any  thing  and 
every  thing  but  the  question  before  the  committee,  they  accuse 
us  of  enthusiasm,  of  giving  the  reins  to  excited  feeling,  of  being 
transported  by  our  imaginations.  No,  sir,  the  resolution  is  no 
proposition  for  aid,  nor  for  recognition,  nor  for  interference,  nor 
for  war. 

I  know  that  there  are  some  who  object  to  the  resolution  on 
account  of  the  source  from  which  it  has  sprung — who  except  to 
its  mover,  as  if  its  value  or  importance  were  to  be  estimated  by 
personal  considerations.  I  have  long  had  the  pleasure  of  know 
ing  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  and  sometimes 
that  of  acting  with  him ;  and  I  have  much  satisfaction  in  ex 
pressing  my  high  admiration  of  his  great  talents.  But  I  would 
appeal  to  my  republican  friends,  those  faithful  sentinels  of  civil 
liberty  with  whom  I  have  ever  acted,  shall  we  reject  a  proposi 
tion,  consonant  to  our  principles,  favoring  the  good  and  great 
cause,  on  account  of  the  political  character  of  its  mover?  Shall 
we  not  rather  look  to  the  intrinsic  merits  of  the  measure,  and 
seek  every  fit  occasion  to  strengthen  and  perpetuate  liberal  prin 
ciples  and  noble  sentiments?  If  it  were  possible  for  republicans 
to  cease  to  be  the  champions  of  human  freedom,  and  if  federal- 
13* 


150  ON  THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION. 

ists  become  its  only  supporters,  I  would  cease  to  be  a  republi 
can;  I  would  become  a  federalist.  The  preservation  of  the 
public  confidence  can  only  be  secured,  or  merited,  by  a  faithful 
adherence  to  the  principles  by  which  it  has  been  acquired. 

Mr.  Chairman,  is  it  it  not  extraordinary  that  for  these  two  suc 
cessive  years  the  President  of  the  United  States  should  have 
been  freely  indulged,  not  only  without  censure,  but  with  univer 
sal  applause,  to  express  the  feelings  which  both  the  resolution 
and  the  amendment  proclaim,  and  yet  if  this  house  venture  to 
unite  with  him,  the  most  awful  consequences  are  to  ensue  ?  From 
Maine  to  Georgia,  from  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  the  gulf  of  Mexico, 
the  sentiment  of  approbation  has  blazed  with  the  rapidity  of  elec 
tricity.  Every  where  the  interest  in  the  Grecian  cause  is  felt 
with  the  deepest  intensity,  expressed  in  every  form,  and  increas 
es  with  every  new  day  and  passing  hour.  And  are  the  represen 
tatives  of  the  people  alone  to  be  insulated  from  the  common  mo 
ral  atmosphere  of  the  whole  land  ?  Shall  we  shut  ourselves  up 
in  apathy,  and  separate  ourselves  from  our  country?  from  our 
constituents?  from  our  chief  magistrate  ?  frc.n  our  principles? 

The  measure  has  been  most  unreasonably  magnified.  Gen 
tlemen  speak  of  the  watchful  jealousy  of  the  Turk,  and  seem  to 
think  that  the  slightest  movement  of  this  body  will  be  matter  of 
serious  speculation  at  Constantinople.  I  believe  that  neither  the 
Sublime  Porte,  nor  the  European  allies,  attach  any  such  exag 
gerated  importance  to  the  acts  and  deliberations  of  this  body. 
The  Turk  will,  in  all  probability,  never  hear  of  the  names  of  the 
gentlemen  who  either  espouse  or  oppose  the  resolution.  It  cer 
tainly  is  not  without  a  value ;  but  that  value  is  altogether  moral ; 
it  throws  our  little  tribute  into  the  vast  stream  of  public,  opinion, 
which  sooner  or  later  must  regulate  the  physical  action  upon  the 
great  interests  of  the  civilized  world.  But,  rely  upon  it,  the  Ot 
toman  is  not  about  to  declare  war  against  us  because  this  unof 
fending  proposition  has  been  offered  by  my  honorable  friend  from 
Massachusetts,  whose  name,  however  distinguished  and  eminent 
he  may  be  in  our  own  country,  has  probably  never  reached  the 
ears  of  the  Sublime  Porte.  The  allied  powers  are  not  going  to 
be  thrown  into  a  state  of  consternation,  because  we  appropriate 
some  two  or  three  thousand  dollars  to  send  an  agent  to  Greece. 

The  question  has  been  argued  as  if  the  Greeks  would  be  ex 
posed  to  still  more  shocking  enorrnilies  by  its  passage;  as  if  the 
Turkish  scimitar  would  be  rendered  still  keener,  and  dyed  deep 
er  and  yet  deeper  in  Christian  blood.  Sir,  if  such  is  to  be  the 
effect  ol  the  declaration  of  our  sympathy,  the  evil  has  been  al 
ready  produced.  That  declaration  has  been  already  publicly  and 
solemnly  made  by  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States,  in 
two  distinct  messages.  It  is  this  document  which  commands  at 
home  and  abroad  the  most  fixed  and  universal  attention ;  which 
is  translated  into  all  the  foreign  journals ;  read  by  sovereigns  and 
their  ministers ;  and,  possibly,  in  the  divan  itself.  But  our  reso 
lutions  are  domestic,  for  home  consumption,  and  rarely,  if  ever. 


ON  THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION.  151 

meet  imperial  or  royal  eyes.  The  President,  in  his  messages, 
after  a  most  touching  representation  of  the  feelings  excited  by 
the  Greek  insurrection,  tells  you  that  the  dominion  of  the  Turk 
is  gone  forever ;  and  that  the  most  sanguine  hope  is  entertained 
that  Greece  will  achieve  her  independence.  Well,  sir,  if  this  be 
the  fact,  if  the  allied  powers  themselves  may,  possibly,  before  we 
again  assemble  in  this  hall,  acknowledge  that  independence,  is  it 
not  fit  and  becoming  in  this  house  to  make  provision  that  our 
President  shall  be  among  the  foremost,  or  at  least  not  among  the 
last,  in  that  acknowledgment  ?  So  far  from  this  resolution  being 
likely  to  whet  the  vengeance  of  the  Turk  against  his  Grecian 
victims,  I  believe  its  tendency  will  be  directly  the  reverse.  Sir, 
with  all  his  unlimited  power,  and  in  all  the  elevation  of  his  des 
potic  throne,  he  is  at  last  but  man,  made  as  we  are,  of  flesh,  of 
muscle,  of  bone  and  sinew.  He  is  susceptible  of  pain,  and  can 
fee),  and  has  felt  the  uncalculating  valor  of  American  freemen  in 
some  of  his  dominions.  And  when  he  is  made  to  understand 
that  the  executive  of  this  government  is  sustained  by  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  people  5  that  our  entire  political  fabric,  base,  col 
umn,  and  entablature,  rulers  and  people,  with  heart,  soul,  mind, 
and  strength,  are  all  on  the  side  of  the  gallant  people  whom  he 
would  crush,  he  will  be  more  likely  to  restrain  than  to  increase 
his  atrocities  upon  suffering  and  bleeding  Greece. 

The  gentleman  from  New-Hampshire,  (Mr.  Bartlett,)  has 
made,  on  this  occasion,  a  very  ingenious,  sensible,  and  ironical 
speech— an  admirable  debut  for  a  new  member,  and  such  as  I 
hope  we  shall  often  have  repeated  on  this  floor.  Bat,  permit  me 
to  advise  my  young  friend  to  remember  the  maxim,  "  that  suf 
ficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof;"  and  when  the  resolu 
tion,*  on  another  subject,  which  I  had  the  honor  to  submit,  shall 
come  up  to  be  discussed,  I  hope  he  will  not  content  himself  with 
saying,  as  he  has  now  done,  that  it  is  a  very  extraordinary  one ; 
but  that  he  will  then  favor  the  house  with  an  argumentative 
speech,  proving  that  it  is  our  duty  quietly  to  see  laid  prostrate 
every  fortress  of  human  hope,  and  to  behold,  with  indifference, 
the  last  outwork  of  liberty  taken  and  destroyed. 

It  has  been  said,  that  the  proposed  measure  will  be  a  depart 
ure  from  our  uniform  policy  with  respect  to  foreign  nations ;  that 
it  will  provoke  the  wrath  of  the  holy  alliance;  and  that  it  will,  in 
effect,  be  a  repetition  of  their  own  offence,  by  an  unjustifiable  in 
terposition  in  the  domestic  concerns  of  other  powers.  No,  sir, 
not  even  if  it  authorized,  which  it  does  not,  an  immediate  recog 
nition  of  Grecian  independence.  What  has  been  the  settled  and 
steady  policy  and  practice  of  this  government,  from  the  days  of 
Washington,  to  the  present  moment  ?  In  the  case  of  France,  the 
father  of  his  country  and  his  successors  received  Genet,  Fouchet 
and  all  the  French  ministers  who  followed  them,  whether  sent 

*  The  resolution,  offered  by  Mr.  Clay,  declaring  that  the  United  States  would  not 
*ee  with  indifference  any  interference  of  the  holy  alliance  in  behalf  of  Spain  against 
the  nevr  American  republics. 


152  ON  THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION. 

from  king,  convention,  anarchy,  emperor,  or  king  again.  The 
rule  we  have  ever  followed  has  been  this :  to  look  at  the  state  of 
the  fact,  and  to  recognize  that  government,  be  it  what  it  might, 
which  was  in  actual  possession  of  sovereign  power.  When  one 
government  is  overthrown,  and  another  is  established  on  its  ruins, 
without  embarrassing  ourselves  with  any  of  the  principles  in 
volved  in  the  contest,  we  have  ever  acknowledged  the  new  and 
actual  government  as  soon  as  it  had  undisputed  existence.  Our 
simple  inquiry  has  been,  is  there  a  government  de  facto  ?  We 
have  had  a  recent  and  memorable  example.  When  the  allied 
ministers  retired  from  Madrid,  and  refused  to  accompany  Ferdi 
nand  to  Cadiz,  ours  remained,  and  we  sent  out  a  new  minister, 
who  sought  at  that  port  to  present  himself  to  the  constitutional 
king.  Why  ?  Because  it  was  the  government  of  Spain,  in  fact 
Did  the  allies  declare  war  against  us  for  the  exercise  of  this  in- 
contestible  attribute  of  sovereignty  ?  Did  they  even  transmit 
any  diplomatic  note,  complaining  of  our  conduct  ?  The  line  of 
our  European  policy  has  been  so  plainly  described  that  it  is  im 
possible  to  mistake  it.  We  are  to  abstain  from  all  interference 
in  their  disputes,  to  take  no  part  in  their  contests,  to  make  no  en 
tangling  alliances  with  any  of  them  ;  but  to  assert  and  exercise 
our  indisputable  right  of  opening  and  maintaining  diplomatic  in 
tercourse  with  any  actual  sovereignty. 

There  is  reason  to  apprehend  that  a  tremendous  storm  is  rea 
dy  to  burst  upon  our  happy  country — one  which  may  call  into 
action  all  our  vigor,  courage,  and  resources.  Is  it  wise  or  pnir 
dent,  in  preparing  to  breast  the  storm,  if  it  must  come,  to  talk  to 
this  nation  of  its  incompetency  to  repel  European  aggression,  to 
lower  its  spirit,  to  weaken  its  moral  energy,  and  to  qualify  it  for 
easy  conquest  and  base  submission  ?  If  there  be  any  reality  in 
the  dangers  which  are  supposed  to  encompass  us,  should  we  not 
animate  the  people,  and  adjure  them  to  believe,  as  I  do,  that  our 
resources  are  ample;  and  that  we  can  bring  into  the  field  a  mil 
lion  of  freemen,  ready  to  exhaust  their  last  drop  of  blood,and  to 
spend  the  last  cent  in  the  defence  of  the  country,  its  liberty,  and 
its  institutions?  Sir,  are  these,  if  united,  to  be  conquered  by  all 
Europe  combined  ?  All  the  perils  to  which  we  can  possibly  be 
exposed,  are  much  less  in  reality  than  the  imagination  is  disposed 
to  paint  them.  And  they  are  best  averted  by  an  habitual  con 
templation  of  them,  by  reducing  them  to  their  true  dimensions. 
If  combined  Europe  is  to  precipitate  itself  upon  us,  we  cannot  too 
soon  begin  to  invigorate  our  strength,  to  teach  our  heads  to  think, 
our  hearts  to  conceive,  and  our  arms  to  execute,  the  high  and 
noble  deeds  which  belong  to  the  character  and  glory  of  our 
country.  The  experience  of  the  world  instructs  us,  that  con 
quests  are  already  achieved,  which  are  boldly  and  firmly  resolv 
ed  on ;  and  that  men  only  become  slaves  who  have  ceased  to  re 
solve  to  be  free.  If  we  wish  to  cover  ourselves  with  the  beet  of 
all  armour,  let  us  not  discourage  our  people,  let  us  stimulate  their 
ardor,  let  us  sustain  their  resolution,  let  us  proclaim  to  them  that 


ON  THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION.  153 

we  feel  as  they  feel,  and  that,  with  them,  we  are  determined  to 
live  or  die  like  freemen. 

Surely,  sir,  we  need  no  long  or  learned  lectures  about  the  na 
ture  of  government,  and  the  influence  of  property  or  ranks  on 
society.  We  may  content  ourselves  with  studying  the  true 
character  of  our  own  people;  and  with  knowing  that  the  interests 
are  confided  to  us  of  a  nation  capable  of  doing  and  suffering  all 
things  for  its  liberty.  Such  a  nation,  if  its  rulers  be  faithful, 
must  be  invincible.  I  well  remember  an  observation  made  to 
me,  by  the  most  illustrious  female*  of  the  age,  if  not  of  her  sex. 
All  history  showed,  she  said,  that  a  nation  was  never  conquered. 
No,  sir,  no  united  nation  that  resolves  to  be  free,  can  be  conquer 
ed.  And  has  it  come  to  this  ?  Are  we  so  humbled,  so  low,  so 
debased,  that  we  dare  not  express  our  sympathy  for  suffering 
Greece,  that  we  dare  not  articulate  our  detestation  of  the  brutal 
excesses  of  which  she  has  been  the  bleeding  victim,  lest  we 
might  offend  some  one  or  more  of  their  imperial  and  royal  ma 
jesties  ?  If  gentlemen  are  afraid  to  act  rashly  on  such  a  subject, 
suppose,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  we  unite  in  an  humble  petition,  ad 
dressed  to  their  majesties,  beseeching  them  that  of  their  gracious 
condescension,  they  would  allow  us  to  express  our  feelings  and 
our  sympathies.  How  shall  it  run  ?  "  We,  the  representatives 
of  the  free  people  of  the  United  States  of  America,  humbly  ap 
proach  the  thrones  of  your  imperial  and  royal  majesties,  and 
supplicate  that,  of  your  imperial  and  royal  clemency," — I  cannot 
go  through  the  disgusting  recital — my  lips  have  not  yet  learnt 
to  pronounce  the  sycophantic  language  of  a  degraded  slave ! 
Are  we  so  mean,  so  base,  so  despicable,  that  we  may  not  attempt 
to  express  our  horror,  utter  our  indignation,  at  the  most  brutal 
and  attrocious  war  that  ever  stained  earth  or  shocked  high 
Heaven,  at  the  ferocious  deeds  of  a  savage  and  infuriated  sol 
diery,  stimulated  and  urged  on  by  the  clergy  of  a  fanatical  and 
inimical  religion,  and  rioting  in  all  the  excesses  of  blood  and 
butchery,  at  the  mere  details  of  which  the  heart  sickens  and  re 
coils  ! 

If  the  great  body  of  Christendom  can  look  on  calmly  and  cool 
ly,  whilst  all  this  is  perpetrated  on  a  Christian  people,  in  its  own 
immediate  vicinity,  in  its  very  presence,  let  us  at  least  evince 
that  one  of  its  remote  extremities  is  susceptible  of  sensibility  to 
Christian  wrongs,  and  capable  of  sympathy  for  Christian  suffer 
ings  ;  that  in  this  remote  quarter  of  the  world,  there  are  hearts 
not  yet  closed  against  compassion  for  human  woes,  that  can 
pour  out  their  indignant  feelings  at  the  oppression  of  a  people 
endeared  to  us  by  every  ancient  recollection,  and  every  modern 
tie.  Sir,  the  committee  has  been  attempted  to  be  alarmed  by  the 
dangers  to  our  commerce  in  the  Mediterranean ;  and  a  wretched 
invoice  of  figs  and  opium  has  been  spread  before  us  to  repress 
our  sensibilities  and  to  eradicate  our  humaaity.  Ah !  sir,  "what 

*  Mad.  de  Stael, 


154  ON  THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION. 

shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own 
soul,"  or  what  shall  it  avail  a  nation  to  save  the  whole  of  a  mis 
erable  trade  and  lose  its  liberties  ? 

On  the  subject  of  the  other  independent  American  states, 
hitherto  it  has  not  been  necessary  to  depart  from  the  rule  of  our 
foreign  relations,  observed  in  regard  to  Europe.  Whether  it 
will  become  us  to  do  so  or  not,  will  be  considered  when  we  take 
up  another  resolution,  lying  on  the  table.  But  we  may  not  only 
adopt  this  measure ;  we  may  go  further,  we  may  recognize  the 
government  in  the  Morea,  if  actually  independent,  and  it  will  be 
neither  war,  nor  cause  of  war,  nor  any  violation  of  our  neutrality. 
Besides,  sir,  what  is  Greece  to  the  allies  ?  A  part  of  the  domin 
ions  of  any  of  them  ?  By  no  means.  Suppose  the  people  in  one 
of  the  Philippine  isles,  or  any  other  spot  still  more  insulated  and 
remote,  in  Asia  or  Africa,  were  to  resist  their  former  rulers,  and 
set  up  and  establish  a  new  government,  are  we  not  to  recognize 
them  in  dread  of  the  holy  allies  ?  If  they  are  going  to  interfere, 
from  the  danger  of  the  contagion  of  the  example,  here  is  the  spot, 
our  own  favored  land,  where  they  must  strike.  This  govern 
ment,  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  and  the  body  over  which  you  preside, 
are  the  living  and  cutting  reproach  to  allied  despotism.  If  we 
are  to  offend  them,  it  is  not  by  passing  this  resolution.  We  are 
daily  and  hourly  giving  them  cause  of  war.  It  is  here,  and  in 
our  free  institutions,  that  they  will  assail  us.  They  will  attack 
us  because  you  sit  beneath  that  canopy,  and  we  are  freely  de 
bating  and  deliberating  upon  the  great  interests  of  free  men,  and 
dispensing  the  blessings  of  free  government.  They  will  strike, 
because  we  pass  one  of  those  bills  on  your  table.  The  passage 
of  the  least  of  them,  by  our  free  authority,  is  more  galling  to  des 
potic  powers,  than  would  be  the  adoption  of  this  so  much  dread 
ed  resolution.  Pass  it,  and  what  do  you  ?  You  exercise  an  in 
disputable  attribute  of  sovereignty,  for  which  you  are  responsible 
to  none  of  them.  You  do  the  same  when  you  perform  any  other 
legislative  function ;  no  less.  If  the  allies  object  to  this  measure, 
let  them  forbid  us  to  take  a  vote  in  this  house ;  let  them  strip  us 
of  every  attribute  of  independent  government:  let  them  disperse 
us. 

Will  gentlemen  attempt  to  maintain  that,  on  the  principles  of 
the  law  of  nations,  those  allies  would  have  came  of  war?  If 
there  be  any  principle  which  has  been  settled  for  ages,  any 
which  is  founded  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  it  is  that  every  in 
dependent  state  has  the  clear  right  to  judge  of  the  fact  of  the  ex 
istence  of  other  sovereign  powers.  I  admit  that  there  may  be  a 
state  of  inchoate  initiative  sovereignty,  in  which  a  new  govern 
ment,  just  struggling  into  being,  cannot  be  said  yet  perfectly  to 
exist.  '  But  the  premature  recognition  of  such  new  government, 
can  give  offence  justly  to  no  other  than  its  ancient  sovereign. 
The  right  of  recognition  comprehends  the  right  to  be  informed ; 
and  the  means  of  information  must,  of  necessity,  depend  upon 
the  sound  discretion  of  the  party  seeking  it.  You  may  send  out 


ON  THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION.  155 

a.  commission  of  inquiry,  and  charge  it  with  a  provident  attention 
to  your  own  people  and  your  own  interests.  Such  will  be  the 
character  of  the  proposed  agency.  It  will  not  necessarily  follow 
that  any  public  functionary  will  be  appointed  by  the  President. 
You  merely  grant  the  means  by  which  the  executive  may  act 
when  he  thinks  proper.  What  does  he  tell  you  in  his  message  ? 
That  Greece  is  contending  for  her  independence ;  that  all  sym 
pathize  with  her ;  and  that  no  power  has  declared  against  her. 
rass  this  resolution,  and  what  is  the  reply  which  it  conveys  to 
him  ?  "  You  have  sent  us  grateful  intelligence  ;  we  feel  warm 
ly  for  Greece ;  and  we  grant  you  money,  that,  when  you  shall 
think  it  proper,  when  the  interests  of  this  nation  shall  not  be  jeo 
pardized,  you  may  depute  a  commissioner  or  public  agent  to 
Greece."  The  whole  responsibility  is  then  left  where  the  con 
stitution  puts  it.  A  member  in  his  place  may  make  a  speech  or 
proposition,  the  house  may  even  pass  a  vote,  in  respect  to  our 
foreign  affairs,  which  the  President,  with  the  whole  field  lying 
full  before  him,  would  not  deem  it  expedient  to  effectuate. 

But,  sir,  it  is  not  for  Greece  alone  that  I  desire  to  see  this 
measure  adopted.  It  will  give  to  her  but  little  support,  and  that 
purely  of  a  moral  kind.  It  is  principally  for  America,  for  the 
credit  and  character  of  our  common  country,  for  our  own  unsullied 
name,  that  I  hope  to  see  it  pass.  What,  Mr.  Chairman,  appear 
ance  on  the  page  of  history,  would  a  record  like  this  exhibit  ? 
'•  In  the  month  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
1S24,  while  all  European  Christendom  beheld,  with  cold  and  un 
feeling  indifference,  the  unexampled  wrongs  and  inexpressible 
misery  of  Christian  Greece,  a  proposition  was  made  in  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States,  almost  the  sole,  the  last,  the  greatest 
depository  of  human  hope  and  human  freedom,  the  representa 
tives  of  a  gallant  nation,  containing  a  million  of  freemen  ready 
to  fly  to  arms,  while  the  people  of  that  nation  were  spontaneous 
ly  expressing  its  deep-toned  feeling,  and  the  whole  continent,  by 


<y 

xjreece,  and  to  invigorate  her  arms,  in  her  gk 
temples  and  senate  houses  were  alike  resounding  with  one  burst 
of  generous  and  holy  sympathy  ;— in  the  year  of  our  Lord  and 
Savior,  that  Savior  of  Greece  and  of  us — a  proposition  was  of 
lered  in  the  American  Congress  to  send  a  messenger  to  Greece, 
to  inquire  into  her  state  and  condition,  with  a  kind  expression  of 
our  good  wishes  and  our  sympathies — and  it  was  rejected  !"  Go 
home,  if  you  can,  go  home,  if  you  dare,  to  your  constituents,  and 
tell  them  that  you  voted  it  down — meet,  if  you  can,  the  appalling 
countenances  of  those  who  sent  you  here,  and  tell  them  that  you 
shrank  from  the  declaration  of  your  own  sentiments — that  you 
cannot  tell  how,  but  that  some  unknown  dread,  some  indescrib 
able  apprehension,  some  indefinable  danger,  drove  you  from 
your  purpose — that  the  spectres  of  scimitars,  and  crownp,  and 
-crescents,  gleamed  before  you,  and  alarmed  you;  and  that  you 


156  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

suppressed  all  the  noble  feelings  prompted  by  religion,  by  liber 
ty,  by  national  independence,  and  by  humanity.  I  cannot  bring' 
myself  to  believe  that  such  will  be  the  feeling  of  a  majority  of 
this  committee.  But,  for  myself,  though  every  friend  of  the 
cause  should  desert  it,  and  I  be  left  to  stand  alone  with  the  gen 
tleman  from  Massachusetts,  I  will  give  to  his  resolution  the  poor 
sanction  of  my  unqualified  approbation. 


SPEECH  IN  DEFENCE  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
SYSTEM, 

Against  the  British  Colonial  System. — Delivered  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  February  2d,  3d  and  6th,  1832. 

In  one  sentiment,  Mr.  President,  expressed  by  the  honorable 
gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  (Gen.  Hayne,)  though  perhaps 
not  in  the  sense  intended  by  him,  I  entirely  concur.  I  agree 
with  him,  that  the  decision  on  the  system  of  policy  embraced  in 
this  debate,  involves  the  future  destiny  of  this  growing  country. 
One  way,  I  verily  believe,  it  would  lead  to  deep  and  general  dis 
tress,  general  bankruptcy  and  national  ruin,  without  benefit  to 
any  part  of  the  Union:  The  other,  the  existing  prosperity  will 
be  preserved  and  augmented,  and  the  nation  will  continue  rapidly 
to  advance  in  wealth,  power  and  greatness,  without  prejudice  to 
any  section  of  the  confederacy. 

Thus  viewing  the  question,  I  stand  here  as  the  humble  but 
zealous  advocate,  not  of  the  interests  of  one  State,  or  seven 
States  only,  but  of  the  whole  Union.  And  never  before  have  I 
felt,  more  intensely,  the  overpowering  weight  of  that  share  of 
responsibiltty  which  belongs  to  me  in  these  deliberations.  Never 
before  have  I  had  more  occasion,  than  I  now  have,  to  lament  my 
want  of  those  intellectual  powers,  the  possession  of  which  might 
enable  me  to  unfold  to  this  Senate,  and  to  illustrate  to  this 
people,  great  truths,  intimately  connected  with  the  lasting  wel- 
iare  of  my  country.  I  should,  indeed,  sink,  overwhelmed  and 
subdued  beneath  the  appalling  magnitude  of  the  task  which  lies 
before  me,  if  I  did  not  feel  myself  sustained  and  fortified  by  a 
thorough  consciousness  of  the  justness  of  the  cause  which  I  have 
espoused,  and  by  a  persuasion,  I  hope  not  presumptuous,  that  it 
has  the  approbation  of  that  Providence  who  has  so  often  smiled 
upon  these  United  States. 

Eight  years  ago,  it  was  my  painful  duty  to  present,  to  the 
other  House  of  Congress,  an  unexaggerated  picture  of  the  gene 
ral  distress  pervading  the  whole  land.  We  must  all  yet  remem 
ber  some  of  its  frightful  features.  We  all  know  that  the  people 
were  then  oppressed  and  borne  down  by  an  enormous  load  of 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  /*,7 

debt;  that  the  value  of  property  was  at  the  lowest  point  of  de- 
"  pression;  that  ruinous  sales  and  sacrifices  were  every  where 
made  of  real  estate;  that  stop  laws  and  relief  laws  and  paper 
money  were  adopted  to  save  the  people  from  impending  destruc 
tion;  that  a  deficit  in  the  public  revenue  existed,  which  com 
pelled  government  to  seize  upon,  and  divert  from  its  legitimate 
object  the  appropriations  to  the  sinking  fund,  to  redeem  the  na 
tional  debt;  and  that  our  commerce  and  navigation  were  threat 
ened  with  a  complete  paralysis.  In  short,  sir,  if  I  were  to  select 
any  term  of  seven  years  since  the  adoption  of  the  present  con 
stitution  which  exhibited  a  scene  of  the  most  wide-spread  dismay 
and  desolation,  it  would  be  exactly  that  term  of  seven  years 
which  immediately  preceded  the  establishment  of  the  tariff'  of 
1824. 

I  have  now  to  perform  the  more  pleasing  task  of  exhibiting  an 
imperfect  sketch  of  the  existing  state  of  the  unparalleled  pros 
perity  of  the  country.     On  a  general  .survey,  we  behold  cultiva 
tion  extended,  the  arts  flourishing,  the  face  of  the  country  im 
proved,  our  people  fully  and  profitably  employed,  and  the  public 
countenance  exhibiting  tranquillity,  contentment  and  happiness. 
And,  if  we  descend  into  particulars,  we  have  the  agreeable  con 
templation  of  a  people  out  of  debt;  land  rising  slowly  in  value, 
but  in  a  secure  and  salutary  degree ;  a  ready  though  not  ex 
travagant  market  for  all  the  surplus  productions'  of  our  industry; 
innumerable  flocks  and  herds  browsing  and  gamboling  on  ten 
thousand  hills  and  plains,  covered  with  rich  and  verdant  grasses; 
our  cities  expanded,  and  whole  villages  springing  up,  as  it  were, 
by  enchantment ;  our  exports  and  imports  increased  and  increas 
ing,  our  tonnage,  foreign  and  coastwise,  swelling  and  fully  occu 
pied;  the  rivers  of  our  interior  animated  by  the  perpetual  thun 
der  and  lightning  of  countless  steam-boats;  the  currency  sound 
and  abundant;  the  public  debt  of  two  wars  nearly  redeemed; 
and,  to  crown  all,  the  public  treasury  overflowing,  embarrassing- 
Congress,  not  to  find  subjects  of  taxation,  but  to  select  the  objects 
which  shall  be  liberated  from  the  impost.     If  the  term  of  seven 
years  were  to  be  selected,  of  the  greatest  prosperity  which  this 
people  have  enjoyed  since  the  establishment  of  their  present 
constitution,  it  would  be  exactly  that  period  of  seven  years  which 
immediately  followed  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1824. 

This  transformation  of  the  condition  of  the  country  from  gloom 
and  distress  to  brightness  and  prosperity,  has  been  mainly  the 
work  of  American  legislation,  fostering  American  industry,  in 
stead  of  allowing  it  to  be  controlled  by  foreign  legislation,  cher 
ishing  foreign  industry.  The  foes  of  the  American  system,  in 
1824,  with  great  boldness  and  confidence,  predicted,  1st.  The 
ruin  of  the  public  revenue,  and  the  creation  of  a  necessity  to 
resort  to  direct  taxation.  The  gentleman  from  South  Carolina. 
(Gen.  Hayne,)  I  believe,  thought  that  the  tariff  of  1824  would 
operate  a  reduction  of  revenue  to  the  large  amount  of  eight 
14 


158  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

millions  of  dollars.  2d.  The  destruction  of  our  navigation.  3d. 
The  desolation  of  commercial  cities.  And  4th.  The  augme»ta- 
tion  of  the  price  of  objects  of  consumption,  and  further  decline 
in  that  of  the  articles  of  our  exports.  Every  prediction  which 
they  made  has  failed — utterly  failed.  Instead  of  the  ruin  of  the 
public  revenue,  with  which  they  then  sought  to  deter  us  from  the 
adoption  of  the  American  system,  we  are  now  threatened  with 
its  subversion,  by  the  vast  amount  of  the  public  revenue  pro 
duced  by  that  system.  Every  branch  of  our  navigation  has 
increased.  As  to  the  desolation  of  our  cities,  let  us  take,  as  an 
example,  the  condition  of  the  largest  and  most  commercial  of  all 
of  them,  the  great  northern  capital.  I  have,  in  my  hands,  the 
assessed  value  of  real  estate  in  the  city  of  New- York,  from  1817 
to  1831.  This  value  is  canvassed,  contested,  scrutinized  and 
adjudged  by  the  proper  sworn  authorities.  It  is,  therefore,  enti 
tled  to  full  credence.  During  the  first  term,  commencing  with 
18175  and  ending  in  the  year  of  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1824, 
the  amount  of  the  value  of  real  estate  was,  the  first  year, 
$57,799,435,  and,  after  various  fluctuations  in  the  intermediate 
period,  it  settled  down  at  $52,019,730,  exhibiting  a  decrease,  in 
seven  years,  of  $5,779,705.  During  the  first  year  of  1825,  after 
the  passage  of  the  tariff,  it  rose,  and,  gradually  ascending 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  latter  period  of  seven  year*,  ii 
finally,  in  1831,  reached  the  astonishing  height  of  $95,716,485! 
Now,  if  it  be  said  that  this  rapid  growth  of  the  city  of  New- 
York  was  the  effect  of  foreign  commerce,  then  it  was  not  cor 
rectly  predicted,  in  1824,  that  the  tariff  would  destroy  foreign 
commerce,  and  desolate  our  commercial  cities.  If,  on  the  con 
trary,  it  be  the  effect  of  internal  trade,  then  internal  trade  cannot 
be  justly  chargeable  with  the  evil  consequences  imputed  to  it. 
The  truth  is,  it  is  the  joint  effect  of  both  principles,  the  domestic 
industry  nourishing  the  foreign  trade,  and  the  toreign  commerce 
in  turn  nourishing  the  domestic  industry.  No  where  more  than 
in  New- York  is  the  combination  of  both  principles  so  completely 
developed.  In  the  progress  of  my  argument,  I  will  consider  the 
effect  upon  the  price  of  commodities  produced  by  the  American 
system,  and  show  that  the  very  reverse  of  the  prediction  of  its 
foes,  in  1824,  has  actually  happened. 

Whilst  we  thus  behold  the  entire  failure  of  all  that  was  fore- 
told  against  the  system,  it  is  a  subject  of  just  felicitation  to  its 
friends,  that  all  their  anticipations  of  its  benefits  have  been  ful 
filled,  or  are  in  progress  of  fulfilment.  The  honorable  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina  has  made  an  allusion  to  a  speech  made  by 
me,  in  1824,  in  the  other  house,  in  support  of  the  tariff,  and  to 
which,  otherwise,  I  should  not  have  particularly  referred.  But  I 
would  ask  any  one,  who  could  now  command  the  courage  to  peruse 
that  long  production,  what  principle  there  laid  down  is  not  true  ? 
what  prediction  then  made  has  been  falsified  by  practical  expe 
rience  ? 

It  is  now  proposed  to  abolish  the  system  to  which  we  owe  so 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  159 

much  of  the  public  prosperity,  and  it  is  urged  that  the  arrival  of 
the  period  ot  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt  has  been  confi 
dently  looked  to  as  presenting  a  suitable  occasion  to  rid  the  coun 
try  of  the  evils  with  which  the  system  is  alledged  to  be  fraught 
Not  an  inattentive  observer  of  passing  events,  I  have  been  aware 
that,  among  those  who  were  most  early  pressing  the  payment  of 
the  public  debt,  and,  upon  that  ground,  were  opposing  appropri 
ations  to  other  great  interests,  there  were  some  who  cared  less 
about  the  debt  than  the  accomplishment  of  other  objects.  But 
the  people  of  the  United  States  have  not  coupled  the  payment  of 
their  public  debt  with  the  destruction  of  the  protection  of  their 
industry,  against  foreign  laws  and  foreign  industry.  Tliey  have 
been  accustomed  to  regard  the  extinction  of  the  public  debt  as 
relief  from  a  burthen,  and  not  as  the  infliction  of  a  curse.  If  it 
is  to  be  attended  or  followed  by  the  subversion  of  the  American 
system,  and  an  exposure  of  our  establishments  and  our  produc 
tions  to  the  unguarded  consequences  of  the  selfish  policy  of  for 
eign  powers,  the  payment  of  the  public  debt  will  be  the  bitterest 
of  curses.  Its  fruit  will  be  like  the  fruit 

"  Of  that  forbidden  tree,  whose  mortal  taste 
Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  wo, 
With  loss  of  Eden." 

If  the  system  of  protection  be  founded  on  principles  erroneous 
in  theory,  pernicious  in  practice— above  all,  if  it  be  unconstitu 
tional,  as  is  alledged,  it  ought  to  be  forthwith  abolished,  and  not 
a  vestige  of  it  suffered  to  remain.  But,  before  we  sanction  this 
sweeping  denunciation,  let  us  look  a  little  at  this  system,  its  mao-- 
mtude,  its  ramifications,  its  duration,  and  the  high  authorities 
which  have  sustained  it.  We  shall  see  that  its  foes  will  have  ac 
complished  comparatively  nothing,  after  having  achieved  their 
present  aim  of  breaking  down  our  iron-founderies,  our  woollen 
cotton,  and  hemp  manufactories,  and  our  sugar  plantations.  The 
destruction  of  these  would,  undoubtedly,  lead  to  the  sacrifice  of 
immense  capital,  the  ruin  of  many  thousands  of  our  fellow  citi 
zens,  and  incalculable  loss  to  the  whole  community.  But  their 
prostration  would  not  disfigure,  nor  produce  greater  effect  upon 
the  whole  system  of  protection,  in  all  its  branches,  than  the  de 
struction  of  the  beautiful  domes  upon  the  capital  would  occasion 
to  the  magnificent  edifice  which  they  surmount.  Why,  sir,  there 
is  scarcely  an  interest,  scarcely  a  vocation  in  society,  which  ia 
not  embraced  by  the  beneficence  of  this  system. 

It  comprehends  our  coasting  tonnage  and  trade,  from  which 
all  foreign  tonnage  is  absolutely  excluded. 

It  includes  all  our  foreign  tonnage,  with  the  inconsiderable  ex 
ception  made  by  treaties  of  reciprocity  with  a  few  foreign  pow- 


fisherm braC6S  °™  fisheries'  and  a11  our  hard7  and  enterprising 
It  extends  to  almost  every  mechanic  art :  to  tanners,  cordwam- 


160  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

ers,  tailors,  cabinet-makers,  hatters,  tinners,  brass- workers,  clock- 
makers,  coach-makers,  tallow-chandlers,  trace-makers,  rope-ma 
kers,  cork-cutters,  tobacconists,  whip-makers,  paper-makers,  um 
brella-makers,  glass-blowers,  stocking-weavers,  butter-makers, 
saddle  and  harness-makers,  cutlers,  brush-makers,  book-binders, 
dairy -men,  milk-farmers,  black-smiths,  type-founders,  musical  in 
strument-makers,  basket-makers,  milliners,  potters,  chocolate- 
makers,  floor-cloth-makers,  bonnet-makers,  hair-cloth-makers, 
copper-smiths,  pencil-makers,  bellows-makers,  pocket  book-ma 
kers,  card-makers,  glue-makers,  mustard-makers,  lumber-saw 
yers,  saw-makers,  scale-beam-makers,  scythe-makers,  wood-saw- 
makers,  an$  many  others.  The  mechanics  enumerated  enjoy  a 
measure  of  protection  adapted  to  their  several  conditions,  vary 
ing  from  twenty  to  fifty  per  cent.  The  extent  and  importance 
of  some  of  these  artizans  maybe  estimated  by  a  few  particulars. 
The  tanners,  curriers,  boot  and  shoe-makers,  and  other  workers  in 
hides,  skins  and  leather,  produce  an  ultimate  value  per  annum 
of  forty  millions  of  dollars ;  the  manufacturers  of  hats  and  caps 
produce  an  annual  value  of  fifteen  millions ;  the  cabinet-makers, 
twelve  millions ;  the  manufacturers  of  bonnets  and  hats  for  the 
female  sex,  lace,  artificial  flowers,  combs,  &c.  seven  millions ;  and 
the  manufacturers  of  glass,  five  millions. 

It  extends  to  all  lower  Louisiana,  the  Delta  of  which  might  as 
well  be  submerged  again  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  from  which  it 
has  been  a  gradual  conquest,  as  now  to  be  deprived  of  the  pro 
tecting  duty  upon  its  great  staple. 

It  affects  the  cotton  planter*  himself,  and  the  tobacco  planter, 
both  of  whom  enjoy  protection. 

The  total  amount  of  the  capital  vested  in  sheep,  the  land  to 
sustain  them,  wool,  woollen  manufactures,  and  woollen  fabrics, 
and  the  subsistence  of  the  various  persons  directly  or  indirectly 
employed  in  the  growth  and  manufacture  of  the  article  of  wool, 
is  estimated  at  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  millions  of  dollars, 
and  the  number  of  persons  at  150,000. 

The  value  of  iron,  considered  as  a  raw  material,  and  of  its 
manufactures,  is  estimated  at  twenty-six  millions  of  dollars  per 
annum.  Cotton  goods,  exclusive  of  the  capital  vested  in  the 
manufacture,  and  of  the  cost  of  the  raw  material,  are  believed 
to  amount,  annually,  to  about  twenty  millions  of  dollars. 

These  estimates  have  been  carefully  made,  by  practical  men, 
of  undoubted  character,  who  have  brought  together  and  embod 
ied  their  information.  Anxious  to  avoid  the  charge  of  exagge 
ration,  they  have  sometimes  placed  their  estimates  below  what 
was  believed  to  be  the  actual  amount  of  these  interests.  With 
regard  to  the  quantity  of  bar  and  other  iron  annually  produced, 
it  is  derived  from  the  known  works  themselves ;  and  I  know 

*  To  say  nothing  of  cotton  produced  in  other  foreign  countries,  the  cultivation  of 
this  article,  of  a  very  superior  quality,  is  constantly  extending  in  the  adjacent  Mexi 
can  provinces,  and,  but  for  the  duty,  probably  a  large  amount  would  be  introduced 
iuto  the  United  States,  down  Red  river  and  along  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  161 

some  in  western  states  which  they  have  omitted  in  their  calcula 
tions. 

Such  are  some  of  the  items  of  this  vast  system  of  protection, 
which  it  is  now  proposed  to  abandon.  We  might  well  pause  and 
contemplate,  if  human  imagination  could  conceive  the  extent  of 
mischief  and  ruin  from  its  total  overthrow,  before  we  proceed  to 
the  work  of  destruction.  Its  duration  is  worthy,  also,  of  serious 
consideration.  Not  to  go  behind  the  constitution,  its  date  is 
coeval  with  that  instrument.  It  began  on  the  ever  memorable 
4th  day  of  July— the  4th  day  of  July,  1789.  The  second  act 
which  stands  recorded  in  the  statute  book,  bearing  the  illustrious 
signature  of  George  Washington,  laid  the  corner  stone  of  the 
whole  system.  That  there  might  be  no  mistake  about  the  mat 
ter,  it  was  then  solemnly  proclaimed  to  the  American  people  and 
to  the  world,  that  it  was  necessary  for  "  the  encouragement  and 
protection  of  manufactures,"  that  duties  should  be  laid.  It  is  in 
vain  to  urge  the  small  amount  of  the  measure  of  the  protection 
then  extended.  The  great  principle  was  then  established  by  the 
fathers  of  the  constitution,  with  the  father  of  his  country  at 
their  head.  And  it  cannot  now  be  questioned,  that,  if  the  gov 
ernment  had  not  then  been  new  and  the  subject  untried,  a  greater 
measure  of  protection  would  have  been  applied,  if  it  had  been 
supposed  necessary.  Shortly  after,  the  master  minds  of  Jeffer 
son  and  Hamilton  were  brought  to  act  on  this  interesting  sub 
ject  Taking  views  of  it  appertaining  to  the  departments  of 
foreign  affairs  and  of  the  treasury,  which  they  respectively  filled, 
they  presented,  severally,  reports  which  yet  remain  monuments 
of  their  profound  wisdom,  and  came  to  the  same  conclusion  of  pro 
tection  to  American  industry.  Mr.  Jefferson  argued  that  foreign 
restrictions,  foreign  prohibitions,  and  foreign  high  duties,  ought 
to  be  met,  at  home,  by  American  restrictions,  American  prohibi 
tions,  and  American  high  duties.  Mr.  Hamilton,  surveying  the 
entire  ground,  and  looking  at  the  inherent  nature  of  the  subject, 
treated  it  with  an  ability  which,  if  ever  equalled,  has  not  been 
surpassed,  and  earnestly  recommended  protection. 

The  wars  of  the  French  Revolution  commenced  about  this 
period,  and  streams  of  gold  poured  into  the  United  States 
through  a  thousand  channels,  opened  or  enlarged  by  the  success 
ful  commerce  which  our  neutrality  enabled  us  to  prosecute. 
We  forgot  or  overlooked,  in  the  general  prosperity,  the  necessity 
of  encouraging  our  domestic  manufactures.  Then  came  the 
edicts  of  Napoleon,  and  the  British  orders  in  council;  and  our 
embargo,  non-intercourse,  non-importation,  and  war,  followed  in 
rapid  succession.  These  national  measures,  amounting  to  a 
total  suspension,  for  the  period  of  their  duration,  of  our  foreign 
commerce,  afforded  the  most  efficacious  encouragement  to 
American  manufactures ;  and  accordingly,  they  every  where 
sprung  up.  Whilst  these  measures  of  restriction  and  this  state 
of  war  continued,  the  manufacturers  were  stimulated  in  their 
14* 


162  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

enterprises  by  every  assurance  of  support,  by  public  sentiment, 
and  by  legislative  resolves.  It  was  about  that  period,  (1808,) 
that  S.  Carolina  bore  her  high  testimony  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
policy,  in  an  act  of  her  legislature,  the  preamble  of  which,  now 
before  me,  reads,  "Whereas  the  establishment  and  encourage 
ment  of  domestic  manufactures  is  conducive  to  the  interest  of  a 
state,  by  adding  new  incentives  to  industry,  and  as  being  the 
means  of  disposing,  to  advantage,  the  surplus  productions  of  the 
agriculturist:  and  whereas,  in  the  present  unexampled  state  of 
the  world,  their  establishment  in  our  country  is  not  only  expe 
dient^  but  politic,  in  rendering  us  independent  of  foreign  nations." 
The  legislature,  not  being  competent  to  afford  the  most  effica 
cious  aid,  by  imposing  duties  on  foreign  rival  articles,  proceeded 
to  incorporate  a  company. 

Peace,  under  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  returned  in  1815,  but  there 
did  not  return  with  it  the  golden  days  which  preceded  the  edicts 
levelled  at  our  commerce  by  Great  Britain  and  France.  It  found 
all  Europe  tranquilly  resuming  the  arts  and  the  business  of  civil 
life.  It  found  Europe  no  longer  the  consumer  of  our  surplus,  and 
the  employer  of  our  navigation,  but  excluding,  or  heavily  bur 
dening,  almost  all  the  productions  of  our  agriculture ;  and  our 
rivals  in  manufactures,  in  navigation,  and  in  commerce.  It 
found  our  country,  in  short,  in  a  situation  totally  different  from 
all  the  past — new  and  untried.  It  became  necessary  to  adapt 
our  laws,  and  especially  our  laws  of  impost,  to  the  new  circum 
stances  in  which  we  found  ourselves.  Accordingly,  that  eminent 
and  lamented  citizen,  then  at  the  head  of  the  treasury,  (Mr. 
Dallas,)  was  required,  by  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  under1  date  the  23d  day  of  February,  1815,  to  prepare  and 
report  to  the  succeeding  session  of  Congress,  a  system  of  revenue 
conformable  with  the  actual  condition  of  the  country.  He  had 
the  circle  of  a  whole  year  to  perform  the  work,  consulted  mer 
chants,  manufacturers,  and  other  practical  men,  and  opened  an 
extensive  correspondence.  The  report  which  he  made,  at  the 
seesion  of  1816,  was  the  result  of  his  inquiries  and  reflections, 
and  embodies  the  principles  which  he  thought  applicable  to  the 
subject.  It  has  been  said  that  the  tariff  of  1816  was  a  measure  of 
mere  revenue  ;  and  that  it  only  reduced  the  war  duties  to  a 
peace  standard.  It  is  true  that  the  question  then  was,  how 
much,  and  in  what  way,  should  the  double  duties  of  the  war  be 
reduced  ?  Now,  also,  the  question  is,  on  what  articles  shall  the 
duties  be  reduced  so  as  to  subject  the  amounts  of  the  future  re 
venue  to  the  wants  of  the  government  ?  Then  it  was  deemed 
an  inquiry  of  the  first  importance,  as  it  should  be  now,  how  the 
reduction  should  be  made,  so  as  to  secure  proper  encourage 
ment  to  our  domestic  industry.  That  this  was  a  leading  object 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  tariff  of  1816,  I  well  remember,  and  it 
is  demonstrated  by  the  language  of  Mr.  Dallas.  He  says,  in 
his  report,  "  There  are  few,  if  any  governments,  which  do  not 
regard  the  establishment  of  domestic  manufactures  as  a  chief 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  163 

object  of  public  policy.  The  United  States  have  always  so  re 
garded  it.  *  *  *  *  The  demands  of  the  country,  while  the 
acquisitions  of  supplies  from  foreign  nations  was  either  prohibit 
ed  or  impracticable,  may  have  afforded  a  sufficient  inducement 
for  this  investment  of  capital,  and  this  application  of  labor ;  but 
the  inducement,  in  its  necessary  extent,  must  fail  when  the  day 
of 'competition  returns.  Upon  that  change  in  the  condition  of  the 
country,  the  preservation  of  the  manufactures,  which  private 
citizens,  under  favorable  auspices,  have  constituted  the  property 
of  the  nation,  becomes  a  consideration  of  general  policy,  to  be 
resolved  by  a  recollection  of  past  embarrassments ;  by  the  cer 
tainty  of  an  increased  difficulty  of  reinstating,  upon  any  emer 
gency,  the  manufactures  which  shall  be  allowed  to  perish  and 
pass  away,"  &c.  The  measure  of  protection  which  he  propos 
ed  was  not  adopted,  in  regard  to  some  leading  articles,  and 
there  was  great  difficulty  in  ascertaining  what  it  ought  to  have 
been.  But  the  principle  was  then  distinctly  asserted,  and  fully 
sanctioned. 

The  subject  of  the  American  system  was  again  brought  up  in 
1820,  by  the  bill  reported  by  the  chairman  of  the  committee  of 
manufactures,  now  a  member  of  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court 
of  the  United  States,  and -the  principle  was  successfully  main 
tained  by  the  representatives  of  the  people  ;  but  the  bill  which 
they  passed  was  defeated  in  the  senate.  It  was  revived  in  1824, 
the  whole  ground  carefully  and  deliberately  explored,  and  the 
bill  then  introduced,  receiving  all  the  sanctions  of  the  constitu 
tion,  became  the  law  of  the  land.  An  amendment  of  the  system 
was  proposed  in  1828,  to  the  history  of  which  I  refer  with  no 
agreeable  recollections.  The  bill  of  that  year,  in  some  of  its 
provisions,  was  framed  on  principles  directly  adverse  to  the  de 
clared  wishes  of  the  friends  of  the  policy  of  protection.  I  have 
heard — without  vouching  for  the  fact — that  it  was  so  framed, 
upon  the  advice  of  a  prominent  citizen,  now  abroad,  with  the 
view  of  ultimately  defeating  the  bill,  and  with  assurances  that, 
being  altogether  unacceptable  to  the  friends  of  the  American 
system,  the  bill  would  be  lost.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  most  ex 
ceptionable  features  of  the  bill  were  stamped  upon  it,  against 
the  earnest  remonstrances  of  the  friends  of  the  system,  by  the 
votes  of  southern  members,  upon  a  principle,  I  think,  as  unsound 
in  legislation  as  it  is  reprehensible  in  ethics.  The  bill  was 
passed,  notwithstanding,  it  having  been  deemed  better  to  take 
the  bad  along  with  the  good  which  it  contained,  than  reject  it  alto 
gether.  Subsequent  legislation  has  corrected  the  error  then  per 
petrated,  but  still  that  measure  is  vehemently  denounced  by 
gentlemen  who  contributed  to  make  it  what  it  was. 

Thus,  sir,  has  this  great  system  of  protection  been  gradually 
built,  stone  upon  stone,  and  step  by  step,  from  the  4th  of  July, 
1789,  down  to  the  present  period.  In  every  stage  of  its  progress 
it  has  received  the  deliberate  sanction  of  Congress.  A  vast 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  has  approved,  and 


164  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

continues  to  approve  it.  Every  chief  magistrate  of  the  United 
States,  from  Washington  to  the  present,  in  some  form  or  other, 
has  given  to  it  the  authority  of  his  name ;  and  however  the 
opinions  of  the  existing  President  are  interpreted  south  of  Ma 
son's  and  Dixon's  line,  on  the  north  they  are  at  least  understood 
to  favor  the  establishment  of  a.  judicious  tariff. 

The  question,  therefore,  which  we  are  now  called  upon  to  de 
termine,  is  not  whether  we  shall  establish  a  new  and  doubtful 
system  of  policy,  just  proposed,  and  for  the  first  time  presented 
to  our  consideration ;  but  whether  we  shall  break  down  and  de- 
«troy  a  long  established  system,  patiently  and  carefully  built  up, 
and  sanctioned,  during  a  series  of  years,  again  and  again,  by 
the  nation  and  its  highest  and  most  revered  authorities.  And 
are  we  not  bound  deliberately  to  consider  whether  we  can  pro 
ceed  to  this  work  of  destruction  without  a  violation  of  the  public 
faith  ?  The  people  of  the  United  States  have  justly  supposed 
that  the  policy  of  protecting  their  industry  against  foreign  legis 
lation  and  foreign  industry,  was  fully  settled,  not  by  a  single  act 
but  by  repeated  and  deliberate  acts  of  government,,  performed 
at  distant  and  frequent  intervals.  In  full  confidence  that  the 
policy  was  firmly  and  unchangeably  fixed,  thousands  upon  thou 
sands  have  invested  their  capital,  purchased  a  vast  amount  of 
real  and  other  estate,  made  permanent  establishments,  and  ac 
commodated  their  industry.  Can  we  expose  to  utter  _and  irre 
trievable  ruin  this  countless  multitude,  without  justly  incurring 
the  reproach  of  violating  the  national  faith  ? 

I  shall  not  discuss  the  constitutional  question.  Without 
meaning  any  disrespect  to  those  who  raise  it,  if  it  be  debateable. 
it  has  been  sufficiently  debated.  The  gentleman  from  South 
Carolina  suffered  it  to  fall  unnoticed  from  his  budget ;  and  it  wa* 
not  until  after  he  had  closed  his  speech  and  resumed  his  seat, 
that  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  had  forgotten  it,  when  he  again 
addressed  the  senate,  and,  by  a  sort  of  protestation  against  any 
conclusion  from  his  silence,  put  forward  the  objection.  The  re 
cent  free  trade  convention  at  Philadelphia,  it  is  well  known,  were 
divided  on  the  question ;  and  although  the  topic  is  noticed  in 
their  address  to  the  public,  they  do  not  avow  their  own  belief  that 
the  American  system  is  unconstitutional,  but  represent  that  such 
is  the  opinion  of  respectable  portions  of  the  American  people. 
Another  addres-s  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  from  a  high 
source,  during  the  past  year,  treating  this  subject,  does  not 
assert  the  opinion  of  the  distinguished  author,  but  states  that  of 
others  to  be  that  it  is  unconstitutional.  From  which  I  infer  thai 
he  did  not,  himself,  believe  it  unconstitutional. 

[Here  the  Vice  President  interposed,  and  remarked  that,  if 
the  Senator  from  Kentucky  alluded  to  him,  he  must  say  that  hi§ 
opinion  was,  that  the  measure  was  unconstitutional] 

When,  sir,  I  contended  with  you,  side  by  side,  and  with  per 
haps  less  zeal  than  you  exhibited,  in  1816,  I  did  not  understand 
you  then  to  consider  the  policy  forbidden  by  the  constitution. 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  165 

fThe  Vice-President  again  interposed,  and  said  that  the  con- 
etitutional  question  was  not  debated  at  that  time,  and  that  he 
had  never  expressed  an  opinion  contrary  to  that  now  intimated.  J 
I  frive  way  with  pleasure  to  these  explanations,  which  I  hope 
will  always  be  made  when  I  say  any  thing  bearing  on  the  indi 
vidual  opinions  of  the  chair.    I  know  the  delicacy  of  the  posi 
tion,  and  sympathize  with  the  incumbent,  whoever  he  may  be 
It  is  true,  the  question  was  not  debated  in  1816;  and  why  not? 
Because  it  was  not  debateable ;  it  was  then  believed  not  fairly 
to  arise.     It  never  has  been  made  as  a  distinct,  substantial  and 
leadincr  point  of  objection.     It  never  was  made  until  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  tariff  of  1824  *  when  it  was  rather  hinted  at  as 
against  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  than  formally  announced 
as  beino-  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  that  instrument.     What 
was  no?  dreamt  of  before,  or  in  1816,  and  scarcely  thought  oi 
in  1824,  is  now  made,  by  excited  imaginations,   to  assume  the 
imposing  form  of  a  serious  constitutional  barrier. 
"  Such  are  the  origin,  duration,  extent  and  sanctions  ot   the 
policy  which  we  are  now  called  upon  to  subvert.     Its  beneficial 
effects,  although  they  may  vary  in  degree,  have  been  felt  in  all 
parts  of  the  Union.     To  none,  I  verily  believe,  has  it  been  preju 
dicial     To  the  north,  everywhere,  testimonials  are  borne  to  the 
hio-h  prosperity  which  it  has  diffused.     There,  all  branches  of 
industry  are  animated  and  flourishing.     Commerce,  foreign  and 
domestic,  active;  cities  and  towns  springing  up,  enlarging  and 
beautifying  navigation  fully  and  profitably  employed,  and  the 
whole  face  of  the  country  smiling  with  improvement,  cheerful 
ness  and  abundance.     The  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  has 
supposed  that  we,  in  the  west,  derive  no  advantages  irom  this 
system     He  is  mistaken.    Let  him  visit  us,  and  he  will  hnd, 
from  the  head  of  La  Belle  Riviere,  at  Pittsburgh,  to  America,  at 
its  mouth,  the  most  rapid  and  gratifying  advances.    He  will  be 
hold  Pittsburgh  itself,  Wheeling,  Portsmouth,  Maysville,  Cincin 
nati,   Louisville,  and  numerous  other  towns,  lining  and  orna- 
meritino-  the  banks  of  that  noble  river,   daily  extending  their 
limits,  and  prosecuting,  with  the  greatest  spirit  and  pront,  nume 
rous  branches  of  the  manufacturing  and  mechanic  arts, 
will  o-o  into  the  interior,  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  he  will  there  per 
ceive  the  most  astonishing  progress  in  agriculture,  in  the  uselu 
arts,  and  in  all  the  improvements  to  which  they  both  directly 
conduce.     Then  let  him  cross  over  into  my  own,  my  favorite 
State,  and  contemplate  the  spectacle  which  is  there  exhibj 
He  will  perceive  numerous  villages,  not  large,  but  neat,  thriving, 
and  some  of  them  highly  ornamented;  many  manufactories  oi 
hemp,  cotton,  wool,  and  other  articles.    In  various  parts  oi  the 
country,  and  especially  in  the  Elkhorn  region,  an  endless  suc 
cession  of  natural  parks;   the  forests  thinned;  fallen  trees  and 
undergrowth  cleared  away;  large  herds  and  flocks  feeding  on 

*  Mr.  Clay  has  been  since  reminded  that  the  objection,  in  the  same  way,  was  fir* 
urged  in  the  debate  of  1820. 


166  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

luxuriant  grasses;  and  interspersed  with  comfortable,  sometimes 
elegant  mansions,  surrounded  by  extensive  lawns.  The  honora 
ble  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  says,  that  a  profitable  trade 
was  carried  on  from  the  west,  through  the  Seleuda  gap,  in 
mules,  horses  and  other  live  stock,  which  has  been  checked  by 
the  operation  of  the  tariff.  It  is  true  that  such  a  trade  was  car 
ried  on  between  Kentucky  and  South  Carolina,  mutually  bene 
ficial  to  both  parties  ;  but,  several  years  ago,  resolutions,  at  popu 
lar  meetings,  in  Carolina,  were  adopted,  not  to  purchase  the 
produce  of  Kentucky,  by  way  of  punishment  for  her  attachment 
to  the  tariff.  They  must  have  supposed  us  as  stupid  as  the  sires 
of  one  of  the  descriptions  of  the  stock  of  which  that  trade  con 
sisted,  if  they  imagined  that  their  resolutions  would  affect  our 
principles.  Our  drovers  cracked  their  whips,  blew  their  horns, 
and  passed  the  Seleuda  gap,  to  other  markets,  where  better  hu 
mors  existed,  and  equal  or  greater  profits  were  made.  I  have 
heard  of  your  successor  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr. 
President,  this  anecdote:  that  he  joined  in  the  adoption  of  those 
resolutions,  but  when,  about  Christmas,  he  applied  to  one  of  his 
South  Carolina  neighbors,  to  purchase  the  regular  supply  of 
pork  for  the  ensuing  year,  he  found  that  he  had  to  pay  two  prices 
for  it;  and  he  declared  if  that  were  the  patriotism  on  which  the 
resolutions  were  based,  he  would  not  conform  to  them,  and,  in 
point  of  fact,  laid  in  his  annual  stock  of  pork  by  purchase  from 
the  first  passing  Kentucky  drover.  That  trade,  now  partially 
resumed,  was  maintained  by  the  sale  of  western  productions,  on 
the  one  side,  and  Carolina  money  on  the  other.  From  that  con 
dition  of  it,  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  might  have  drawn 
this  conclusion,  that  an  advantageous  trade  may  exist,  although 
one  of  the  parties  to  it  pays  in  specie  for  the  production  which 
he  purchases  from  the  other ;  and  consequently  that  it  does  noi 
follow,  if  we  did  not  purchase  British  fabrics,  that  it  might  not 
be  the  interest  of  England  to  purchase  our  raw  material  of  cot 
ton.  The  Kentucky  drover  received  the  South  Carolina  specie, 
or,  taking  bills,  or  the  evidences  of  deposite  in  the  banks,  carried 
these  home,  and,  disposing  of  them  to  the  merchant,  he  brought 
out  goods,  of  foreign  or  domestic  manufacture,  in  return.  Such 
is  the  circuitous  nature  of  trade  and  remittance,  which  no  nation 
understands  better  than  Great  Britain. 

Nor  has  the  system  which  has  been  the  parent  source  of  so 
much  benefit  to  other  parts  of  the  Union,  proved  injurious  to  the 
cotton  growing  country.  I  cannot  speak  of  South  Carolina 
itself,  where  I  have  never  been,  with  so  much  certainty;  but  of 
other  portions  of  the  Union  in  which  cotton  is  grown,  especially 
those  bordering  on  the  Mississippi,  I  can  confidently  speak.  If 
.cotton  planting  is  less  profitable  than  it  was,  that  is  the  result 
of  increased  production;  but  believe  it  to  be  still  the  most  profita 
ble  investment  of  capital  of  any  branch  of  business  in  the  Uni 
ted  States,  And  if  a  committee  were  raised,  with  power  to  send 
for  persons  and  papers,  I  take  it  upon  myself  to  say, 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  167 

would  be  the  result  of  the  inquiry.  In  Kentucky,  I  know  many 
individuals  who  have  their  cotton  plantations  below,  and  retain 
their  residence  in  that  State,  where  they  remain  during  the 
sickly  season;  and  they  are  all,  I  believe,  without  exception, 
doing  well.  Others,  tempted  by  their  success,  are  constantly 
engaging  in  the  business,  whilst  scarcely  any  comes  from  the 
cotton  region  to  engage  in  western  agriculture.  A  friend,  now 
in  my  eye,  a  member  of  this  body,  upon  a  capital  of  less  than 
seventy  thousand  dollars,  invested  in  a  plantation  and  slaves, 
made,  the  year  before  last,  sixteen  thousand  dollars.  A  member 
of  the  other  House,  I  understand,  who,  without  removing  him 
self,  sent  some  of  his  slaves  to  Mississippi,  made,  last  year,  about 
twenty  per  cent.  Two  friends  of  mine,  in  the  latter  State,  whose 
annual  income  is  from  thirty  to  sixty  thousand  dollars,  being 
desirous  to  curtail  their  business,  have  offered  estates  for  sale 
which  they  are  willing  to  show,  by  regular  vouchers  of  receipt 
and  disbursement,  yield  eighteen  per  cent,  per  annum.  One 
of  my  most  opulent  acquaintances,  in  a  county  adjoining  to  that 
in  which  I  reside,  having  married  in  Georgia,  has  derived  a 
large  portion  of  his  wealth  from  a  cotton  estate  there  situated. 

The  loss  of  the  tonnage  of  Charleston,  which  has  been  dwelt 
on,  does  not  proceed  from  the  tariff;  it  never  had  a  very  large 
amount  and  it  has  not  been  able  to  retain  what  it  had,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  operation  of  the  principle  of  free  trade  on  its  navi 
gation.  Its  tonnage  has  gone  to  the  more  enterprizing  and  ad 
venturous  tars  of  the  northern  States,  with  whom  those  of  the 
city  of  Charleston  could  not  maintain  a  successful  competition, 
in  the  freedom  of  the  coasting  trade  existing  between  the  differ 
ent  parts  of  the  Union.  That  this  must  be  the  true  cause,  is 
demonstrated  by  the  fact,  that,  however  it  may  be  with  the  port 
of  Charleston,  our  coasting  tonnage,  generally,  is  constantly  in 
creasing.  As  to  the  foreign  tonnage,  about  one-half  of  that 
which  is  engaged  in  the  direct  trade  between  Charleston  and 
Great  Britain,  is  English;  proving  that  the  tonnage  of  South 
Carolina  cannot  maintain  itself  in  a  competition,  under  the  free 
and  equal  navigation  secured  by  our  treaty  with  that  power. 

When  gentlemen  have  succeeded  in  their  design  of  an  imme 
diate  or  gradual  destruction  of  the  American  system,  what  is 
their  substitute?  Free  trade!  Free  trade!  The  call  for  free 
trade  is  as  unavailing  as  the  cry  of  a  spoiled  child,  in  its  nurse's 
arms,  for  the  moon,  or  the  stars  that  glitter  in  the  firmament  of 
heaven.  It  never  has  existed,  it  never  will  exist.  Trade  im 
plies,  at  least,  two  parties.  To  be  free,  it  should  be  fair,  equal 
and  reciprocal.  But  if  we  throw  our  ports  wide  open  to  the  ad 
mission  of  foreign  productions,  free  of  all  duty,  what  ports,  of 
any  other  foreign  nation,  shall  we  find  open  to  the  free  admission 
of  our  surplus  produce?  We  may  break  down  all  barriers  to 
free  trade,  on  our  part,  but  the  work  will  not  be  complete  until 
foreign  powers  shall  have  removed  theirs.  There  would  be 
freedom  on  one  side,  and  restrictions,  prohibitions  and  exclu- 


168  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

eions  on  the  other.  The  bolts,  and  the  bars,  and  the  chains,  of 
all  other  nations,  will  remain  undisturbed.  It  is,  indeed,  possible, 
that'our  industry  and  commerce  would  accommodate  themselves 
to  this  unequal  and  unjust  state  of  things;  for,  such  is  the  flexi 
bility  of  our  nature,  that  it  bends  itself  to  all  circumstances.  The 
wretched  prisoner,  incarcerated  in  a  jail,  after  a  long  time  be 
comes  reconciled  to  his  solitude,  and  regularly  notches  down  the 
passing  days  of  his  confinement. 

Gentlemen  deceive  themselves.  It  is  not  free  trade  that  they 
are  recommending  to  our  acceptance.  It  is.  in  effect,  the  British 
colonial  system  that  we  are  invited  to  adopt  j  and,  if  their  policy 
prevail,  it  will  lead,  substantially,  to  the  recolonization  of  these 
\  States,  under  the  commercial  dominion  of  Great  Britain.  And 
•whom  dp  we  find  some  of  the  principal  supporters,  out  of  Con 
gress,  of  this  foreign  system  ?  Mr.  President,  there  are  some 
foreigners  who  always  remain  exotics,  and  never  become  natu 
ralized  in  our  country;  whilst,  happily,  there  are  many  others 
who  readily  attach  themselves  to  our  principles  and  our  institu 
tions.  The  honest,  patient  and  industrious  German  readily 
unites  with  our  people,  establishes  himself  upon  some  of  our  fat 
land,  fills  his  capacious  barn,  and  enjoys,  in  tranquillity,  the 
abundant  fruits  which  his  diligence  gathers  around  him,  always 
ready  to  fly  to  the  standard  of  his  adopted  country,  or  of  its 
laws,  when  called  by  the  duties  of  patriotism.  The  gay,  the 
versatile,  the  philosophic  Frenchman,  accommodating  himself 
cheerfully  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  incorporates5  himself, 
without  difficulty,  in  our  society.  But,  of  all  foreigners,  none 
amalgamate  themselves  so  quickly  with  our  people  as  the  na 
tives  of  the  Emerald  Isle.  In  some  of  the  visions  which  have 
passed  through  my  imagination,  I  have  supposed  that  Ireland 
was,  originally,  part  and  parcel  of  this  continent,  and  that,  by 
some  extraordinary  convulsion  of  nature,  it  was  torn  from 
America,  and,  drifting  across  the  ocean,  was  placed  in  the  un 
fortunate  vicinity  of  Great  Britain.  The  same  open-hearted- 
ness;  the  same  generous  hospitality;  the  same  careless  and 
uncalculating  indifference  about  human  life,  characterize  the 
inhabitants  of  both  countries.  Kentucky  has  been  sometimes 
called  the  Ireland  of  America.  And  I  have  no  doubt  that,  if 
the  current  of  emigration  were  reversed,  and  set  from  America 
upon  the  shores  of  Europe,  instead  of  bearing  from  Europe  to 
America,  every  American  emigrant  to  Ireland  would  there  find, 
as  e.very  Irish  emigrant  here  finds,  a  hearty  welcome  and  a 
happy  home ! 

But,  sir,  the  gentleman  to  whom  I  am  about  to  allude,  although 
long  a  resident  of  this  country,  has  no  feelings,  no  attachments, 
no  sympathies,  no  principles,  in  common  with  our  people.  Near 
fifty  years  ago,  Pennsylvania  took  him  to  her  bosom,  and  warmed, 
and  cherished,  arid  honored  him ;  and  how  does  he  manifest  bin 
gratitude?  By  aiming  a  vital  blow  at  a  system  endeared  to  her 
by  a  thorough  conviction  that  it  is  indispensable  to  her  pros- 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  169 

perity.  He  has  filled,  at  home  and  abroad,  some  of  the  highest 
offices  under  this  government,  during  thirty  years,  and  he  is  still 
at  heart  an  alien.  The  authority  of  his  name  has  been  invoked, 
and  the  labors  of  his  pen,  in  the  form  of  a  memorial  to  Congress, 
have  been  engaged,  to  overthrow  the  American  system,  and  to 
substitute  the  foreign.  Go  home  to  your  native  Europe,  and 
there  inculcate,  upon  her  sovereigns,  your  Utopian  doctrines  of 
free  trade,  and,  when  you  have  prevailed  upon  them  to  unseal 
their  ports,  and  freely  admit  the  produce  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
other  States,  come  back,  and  we  shall  be  prepared  to  become 
converts,  and  to  adopt  your  faith. 

A  Mr.  Sarchet  also  makes  no  inconsiderable  figure  in  the  com 
mon  attack  upon  our  system.  I  do  not  know  the  man,  but  I  un 
derstand  he  is  an  unnaturalized  emigrant  from  the  island  of 
Guernsey,  situated  in  the  channel  which  divides  France  and 
England.  The  principal  business  of  the  inhabitants  is  that  of 
driving  a  contraband  trade  with  the  opposite  shores,  and  Mr. 
Sarchet,  educated  in  that  school,  is,  I  have  been  told,  chiefly  en 
gaged  in  employing  his  wits  to  elude  the  operation  of  our  reve 
nue  laws,  by  introducing  articles  at  less  rates  of  duty  than  they 
are  justly  chargeable  with,  which  he  effects  by  varying  the  de 
nominations,  or  slightly  changing  their  forms.  This  man,  at  a 
former  session  of  the  senate,  caused  to  be  presented  a  memorial 
signed  by  some  150  pretended  workers  in  iron.  Of  these  a  gen 
tleman  made  a  careful  inquiry  and  examination,  and  he  ascer 
tained  that  there  were  only  about  ten  of  the  denomination  repre 
sented  ;  the  rest  were  tavern  keepers,  porters,  merchants'  clerks, 
hackney  coachmen,  &c.  I  have  the  most  respectable  authority, 
in  black  and  white,  for  this  statement. 

[Here  Gen.  Hayne  asked,  who  ?  and  was  he  a  manufacturer  ? 
Mr.  Clay  replied,  Col.  Murray,  of  New-York,  a  gentleman  of  the 
highest  standing  for  honor,  probity,  and  veracity  ;  that  he  did  not 
know  whether  he  was  a  manufacturer  or  not,  but  the  gentleman 
might  take  him  as  one.*] 

Whether  Mr.  Sarchet  got  up  the  late  petition  presented  to  the 
senate  from  the  journeymen  tailors  of  Philadelphia,  or  not,  I  do 
not  know.  But  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  it  were  a  movement 
of  his,  and  if  we  should  find  that  he  has  cabbaged  from  other 
classes  of  society  to  swell  out  the  number  of  signatures. 

To  the  facts  manufactured  by  Mr.  Sarchet,  and  the  theories 
by  Mr.  Gallatin,  there  was  yet  wanting  one  circumstance  to  re 
commend  them  to  favorable  consideration,  and  that  was  the  au 
thority  of  some  high  name.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  obtaining 
one  from  a  British  repository.  The  honorable  gentleman  has 
cited  a  speech  of  my  lord  Goderich,  addressed  to  the  British  par 
liament,  in  favor  of  free  trade,  and  full  of  deep  regret  that  old 
England  could  not  possibly  conform  her  practice  of  rigorous  re- 

*  Mr.  Clay  subsequently  understood  that  Col.  Murray  was  a  merchant* 
15 


170  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

striction  and  exclusion  to  her  liberal  doctrines  of  unfettered  com 
merce,  so  earnestly  recommended  to  foreign  powers.  Sir,  said 
Mr.  C.,  I  know  my  lord  Goderich  very  well,  although  my  ac 
quaintance  with  him  was  prior  to  his  being  summoned  to  the 
British  house  of  peers.  We  both  signed  the  convention  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  of  1815.  He  is  an  honora 
ble  man,  frank,  possessing  business,  bu»t  ordinary  talents,  about 
,the  stature  and  complexion  of  the  honorable  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina,  a  few  years  older  than  he,  and  every  drop  of 
blood  running  in  his  veins  being  pure  and  unadulterated  Anglo- 
Saxon  blood.  If  he  were  to  live  to  the  age  of  Methuselah,  he 
could  not  make  a  speech  of  such  ability  and  eloquence  as  that 
which  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  recently  delivered  to 
the  senate ;  and  there  would  be  much  more  fitness  in  my  lord 
Goderich  making  quotations  from  the  speech  of  the  honorable 
gentleman,  than  his  quoting,  as  authority,  the  theoretical  doc 
trines  of  my  lord  Goderich.  We  are  too  much  in  the  habit  of 
looking  abroad,  not  merely  for  manufactured  articles,  but  for  the 
sanction  of  high  names,  to  support  favorite  theories.  I  have  seen 
and  closely  observed,  the  British  parliament,  and,  without  dero 
gating  from  its  justly  elevated  character,  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying,  that  in  all  the  attributes  of  order,  dignity,  patriotism  and 
eloquence,  the  American  Congress  would  not  suffer,  in  the  small 
est  degree,  by  a  comparison  with  it. 

I  dislike  this  resort  to  authority,  and  especially  foreign  and  in 
terested  authority,  for  the  support  of  principles  of  public  policy. 
I  would  greatly  prefer  to  meet  gentlemen  upon  the  broad  ground 
of  fact,  of  experience,  and  of  reason ;  but,  since  they  will  appeal 
to  British  names  and  authority,  I  feel  myself  compelled  to  imita,te 
their  bad  example.  Allow  me  to  quote  from  the  speech  of  a 
member  of  the  British  parliament,  bearing  the  same  family  name 
with  my  lord  Goderich,  but  whether  or  not  a  relation  of  his,  I  do 
not  know.  The  member  alluded  to  was  arguing  against  the  vi 
olation  of  the  treaty  of  Methuen — that  treaty,  not  less  fatal  to  the 
interests  of  Portugal  than  would  be  the  system  of  gentlemen  to 
the  best  interests  of  America — and  he  went  on  to  say : 

"It  was  idle  for  us  to  endeavor  to  persuade  other  nations  to 
join  with  us  in  adopting  the  principles  of  what  was  called  '•'•free 
trade"  Other  nations  knew,  as  well  as  the  noble  lord  opposite, 
and  tJiose  who  acted  with  him,  what  we  meant  by  "free  trade  " 
was  nothing  mare  nor  less  tlian,  by  means  of  the  great  advanta 
ges  we  enjoyed,  to  get  a  monopoly  of  all  their  markets  for  our 
manufactures,  and  to  prevent  them,  one  and  all,  from  ever  beco 
ming  manufacturing  nations.  When  the  system  of  reciprocity 
and  free  trade  had  been  proposed  to  a  French  ambassador,  his 
remark  was,  that  the  plan  was  excellent  in  theory,  but,  to  make 
it  fair  in  practice,  it  would  be  necessary  to  defer  the  attempt  to 
put  it  in  execution  for  half  a  century,  until  France  should  be  on 
the  same  footing  with  Great  Britain,  in  marine,  in  manufactures, 
in  capital,  and  the  many  other  peculiar  advantages  which  it  now 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  171 

enjoyed.  The  policy  that  France  acted  on,  was  that  of  encour 
aging  its  native  manufactures,  and  it  was  a  wise  policy ;  because 
if  it  were  freely  to  admit  our  manufactures,  it  would  speedily  be 
reduced  to  the  rank  of  an  agricultural  nation  ;  and  therefore  a 
poor  nation,  as  all  must  be  that  depend  exclusively  upon  agricul 
ture.  America  acted  too  upon  the  same  principle  with  France. 
America  legislated  for  futurity — legislated  for  an  increasing  pop 
ulation.  America,  too,  was  prospering  under  this  system.  In 
twenty  years,  America  would  be  independent  of  England  for 
manufactures  altogether.  *  *  *  *  But  since  the  peace, 
France,  Germany,  America,  and  all  the  other  countries  of  the 
world,  had  proceeded  upon  the  principle  of  encouraging  and  pro 
tecting  native  manufactures." 

But  I  have  said  that  the  system  nominally  called  "  free  trade," 
so  earnestly  and  eloquently  recommended  to  our  adoption,  is  a 
mere  revival  of  the  British  colonial  system,  forced  upon  us  by 
Great  Britain  during  the  existence  of  our  colonial  vassalage. 
The  whole  system  is  fully  explained  and  illustrated  in  a  work 
published  as  far  back  as  the  year  1750,  entitled  "  The  trade  and 
navigation  of  Great  Britain,  considered  by  Joshua  Gee,"  with 
extracts  from  which  I  have  been  furnished  by  the  diligent  re 
searches  of  a  friend.  It  will  be  seen  from  these,  that  the  South 
Carolina  policy  now,  is  identical  with  the  long  cherished  policy 
of  Great  Britain,  which  remains  the  same  as  it  was  when  the 
thirteen  colonies  were  part  of  the  British  empire.  In  that  work 
the  author  contends — 

"  1.  That  manufactures,  in  the  American  colonies,  should  be 
discouraged  or  prohibited. 

"  Great  Britain,  with  its  dependencies,  is  doubtless  as  well  able 
to  subsist  within  itself  as  any  nation  in  Europe :  We  have  an  en 
terprising  people,  fit  for  all  the  arts  of  peace  and  Avar :  We  have 
provisions  in  abundance,  and  those  of  the  best  sort,  and  are  able 
to  raise  sufficient  for  double  the  number  of  inhabitants :  We  have 
the  very  best  materials  for  clothing,  and  want  nothing  either  for 
use  or  even  for  luxury,  but  what  we  have  at  home  or  might  have 
from  our  colonies  :  So  that  we  might  make  such  an  intercourse 
of  trade  among  ourselves,  or  between  us  and  them,  as  would 
maintain  a  vast  navigation.  But  we  ought  always  to  keep  a 
watchful  eye  over  our  colonies,  to  restrain  them  from  setting  up 
any  of  the  manufactures  which  are  carried  on  in  Britain ;  and 
any  such  attempts  should  be  crushed  in  the  beginning ;  for,  if 
they  are  suffered  to  grow  up  to  maturity,  it  will  be  difficult  to 
suppress  them." — Pages  177,  8,  9. 

"  Our  colonies  are  much  in  the  same  state  Ireland  was  in, 
when  they  began  the  woollen  manufactory,  and,  as  their  num 
bers  increase,  will  fall  upon  manufactures  for  clothing  them 
selves,  if  due  care  be  not  taken  to  find  employment  for  them  in 
raising  such  productions  as  may  enable  them  to  furnish  them 
selves  with  all  their  necessaries  from  us." 

Then  it  was  the  obje-ct  of  this  British  economist  to  adapt  the 


172  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

means  or  wealth  of  the  colonists  to  the  supply  required  by  their 
necessities,  and  to  make  the  mother  country  the  only  source  of 
that  supply.  Now  it  seems  the  policy  is  only  so  far  to  be  re 
versed,  that  we  must  continue  to  import  necessaries  from  Great 
Britain,  in  order  to  enable  her  to  purchase  raw  cotton  from  us. 

"  I  should,  therefore,  think  it  worthy  the  care  of  the  govern 
ment  to  endeavor,  by  all  possible  means,  to  encourage  them  in 
raising  of  silk,  hemp,  flax,  iron,  [only  pig,  to  be  hammered 
in  England]  pot  ash,  &c.,  by  giving  them  competent  bounties  in 
the  beginning,  and  sending  over  judicious  and  skilful  persons,  at 
the  public  charge,  to  assist  and  instruct  them  in  the  most  proper 
methods  of  management  which,  in  my  apprehension,  would  lay 
a  foundation  for  establishing  the  most  profitable  trade  of  any  we 
have.  And  considering  the  commanding  situation  of  our  colo 
nies  along  the  sea-coast;  the  great  convenience  of  navigable 
rivers  in  all  of  them ;  the  cheapness  of  land,  and  the  easiness  of 
raising  provisions ;  great  numbers  of  people  would  transport 
themselves  thither  to  settle  upon  such  improvements.  Now,  as 
people  have  been  filled  with  fears  that  the  colonies,  if  encourag 
ed  to  raise  rough  materials,  would  set  up  for  themselves,  a  little 
regulation  would  remove  all  those  jealousies  out  of  the  way. 
They  have  never  thrown  or  wove  any  silk  as  yet  that  we  have 
heard  of.  Therefore  if  a  law  was  made  to  prohibit  the  use  of 
every  throwster's  mill,  or  doubling  or  horsling  silk  with  any  ma 
chine  whatever,  they  would  then  send  it  to  us  raw.  And  as 
they  will  have  the  providing  rough  materials  to  themselves,  so 
shall  we  have  the  manufacturing  of  them.  If  encouragement 
be  given  for  raising  hemp,  flax,  &c,,  doubtless  they  will  soon  be 
gin  to  manufacture,  if  not  prevented.  Therefore,  to  stop  the 
progress  of  any  such  manufacture,  it  is  proposed  that  no  weaver 
there  shall  have  liberty  to  set  up  any  looms  without  first  regis 
tering  at  an  office  kept  for  that  purpose,  and  the  name  and  place 
of  abode  of  any  journeyman  that  shall  work  with  him.  But  if 
any  particular  inhabitant  shall  be  inclined  to  have  any  linen  or 
woollen  made  of  their  own  spinning,  they  should  not  be  abridged 
of  the  same  liberty  that  they  now  make  use  of,  viz :  to  carry  to 
a  weaver,  (who  shall  be  licensed  by  the  governor),  and  have  it 
wrought  up  for  the  use  of  the  family,  but  not  to  be  sold  to  any 
person  in  a  private  manner,  nor  exposed  to  any  market  or  fair 
upon  pain  of  forfeiture. 

"  And,  inasmuch  as  they  have  been  supplied  with  all  their 
manufactures  from  hence,  except  what  is  usecl  in  building  of 
ships  and  other  country  work,  one  half  of  our  exports  being  sup 
posed  to  be  in  NAILS — a  manufacture  which  they  allow  has  never 
hitherto  been  carried  on  among  them — it  is  proposed  they  shall, 
for  time  to  come,  never  erect  the  manufacture  of  any  under  the 
size  of  a  two  shilling  nail,  horse  nails  excepted;  that  all  slitting 
mills  and  engines,  for  drawing  wire,  or  weaving  stockings,  be 
put  down,  and  that  every  smith  who  keeps  a  common  forge  or 
shop,  shall  register  his  name  and  place  of  abode,  and  the  name 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  173 

of  every  servant  which  ho  shall  employ,  which  license  shall  be 
renewed  once  every  year,  and  pay  for  the  liberty  of  working  at 
such  trade.  That  all  negroes  shall  be  prohibited  from  weaving 
either  linen  or  woollen,  or  spinning  or  combing  of  wool,  or  work 
ing  at  any  manufacture  of*  iron,  further  than  making  it  into  pig 
or  bar  iron.  That  they  also  be  prohibted  from  manufacturing 
hats,  stockings,  or  leather,  of  any  kind.  This  limitation  will  not 
abridge  the  planters  of  any  privilege  they  now  enjoy.  On  the 
contrary,  it  will  turn  their  industry  to  promoting  and  raising  those 
rough  materials." 

The  author  then  proposes  that  the  board  of  trade  and  planta 
tions  should  be  furnished  Avith  statistical  accounts  of  the  various 
permitted  manufactures,  to  enable  them  to  encourage  or  depress 
the  industry  of  the  colonists,  and  prevent  the  danger  of  interfer 
ence  with  British  industry. 

"  It  is  hoped  that  this  method  Avould  allay  the  heat  that  some 
people  have  shown,  for  destroying  the  iron  works  on  the  planta 
tions,  and  pulling  down  all  their  forges — taking  away,  in  a  violent 
manner,  their  estates  and  properties — preventing  the  husband 
men  from  getting  their  ploughshares,  carts,  and  other  utensils, 
mended ;  destroying  the  manufacture  of  ship  building,  by  de 
priving  them  of  the  liberty  of  making  bolts,  spikes,  and  other 
things  proper  for  carrying  on  that  work,  by  which  article  returns 
are  made  for  purchasing  our  woollen  manufactures.3' — Pages 
37,  88,  89. 

Such  is  the  picture  of  colonists  dependent  upon  the  mother 
country  for  their  necessary  supplies,  drawn  by  a  writer  who  was 
not  among  the  number  of  those  who  desired  to  debar  them  the 
means  of  building  a  vessel,  erecting  a  forge,  or  mending  a 
ploughshare,  but  who  was  willing  to  promote  their  growth  and 
prosperity,  as  far  as  was  consistent  with  the  paramount  interests 
of  the  manufacturing  or  parent  state. 

"2.  The  advantages  to  Great  Britain  from  keeping  the  colon 
ists  dependent  on  her  for  their  essential  supplies. 

"If  we  examine  into  the  circumstances  of  the  inhabitants  of 
our  plantations,  and  our  own,  it  will  appear  that  not  one-fourth 
part  of  their  product  redounds  to  their  own  profit,  for,  out  of  all 
that  comes  here,  they  only  carry  back  clothing  and  other  accom 
modations  for  their  families,  all  of  which  is  of  the  merchandise 
and  manufacture  of  this  kingdom." 

After  showing  how  this  system  tends  to  concentrate  all  the 
surplus  of  acquisition  over  absolute  expenditure,  in  England,  he 
says: 

•'  All  these  advantages  we  receive  by  the  plantations,  besides 
the  mortgages  on  the  planters'  estates,  and  the  high  interest  they 
pay  us,  which  is  very  considerable ;  and  therefore  very  great 
care  ought  to  be  taken,  in  regulating  all  affairs  of  the  colonists, 
that  the  planters  be  not  put  under  too  many  difficulties,  but  en 
couraged  to  go  on  cheerfully. 
15* 


174  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

"  New-England,  and  the  northern  colonies,  have  not  commodi 
ties  and  products  enough  to  send  us  in  return  for  purchasing 
their  necessary  clothing,  but  are  under  very  great  difficulties ; 
and  therefore  any  ordinary  sort  sell  with  them.  And  when  they 
have  grown  out  of  fashion  with  us,  they  are  new  fashioned 
enough  there." 

Sir,  I  cannot  go  on  with  this  disgusting  detail.  Their  refuse 
goods;  their  old  shop-keepers;  their  cast-off  clothes  good  enough 
for  us!  Was  there  ever  a  scheme  more  artfully  devised 
by  which  the  energies  and  faculties  of  one  people  should  be 
kept  down  and  rendered  subservient  to  the  pride  and  the  pomp, 
and  the  power  of  another !  The  system  then  proposed  differs 
only  from  that  which  is  now  recommended,  in  one  particular ; 
that  was  intended  to  be  enforced  by  power,  this  would  not  be 
less  effectually  executed  by  the  force  of  circumstances.  A  gen 
tleman  in  Boston,  (Mr.  Lee)  the  agent  of  the  free  trade  conven 
tion,  from  whose  exhaustless  mint  there  is  a  constant  issue  of  re 
ports,  seems  to  envy  the  blessed  condition  of  dependent  Canada, 
when  compared  to  the  oppressed  state  of  this  Union ;  and  it  is  a 
fair  inference  from  the  view  which  he  presents,  that  he  would 
have  us  hasten  back  to  the  golden  days  of  that  colonial  bondage, 
which  is  so  well  depicted  in  the  work  from  which  I  have  been 
quoting.  Mr.  Lee  exhibits  two  tabular  statements,  in  one  of 
which  he  presents  the  high  duties  which  he  represents  to  be 
paid  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  and,  in  the  other,  those 
which  are  paid  in  Canada,  generally  about  two  per  cent,  ad  val 
orem.  But  did  it  not  occur  to  him  that  the  duties  levied  in  Can 
ada  are  paid  chiefly  on  British  manufactures,  or  on  articles  pass 
ing  from  one  part  to  another  of  a  common  empire ;  and  that  to 
present  a  parallel  case  in  the  United  States,  he  ought  to  have 
shown  that  importations  made  into  one  state  from  another, 
which  are  now  free,  are  subject  to  the  same  or  higher  duties 
than  are  paid  in  Canada? 

I  will  now,  Mr.  President,  proceed  to  a  more  particular  con 
sideration  of  the  arguments  urged  against  the  protective  system, 
and  an  inquiry  into  its  practical  operation,  especially  on  the  cot 
ton  growing  country.  And,  as  I  wish  to  state  and  meet  the  ar 
gument  fairly,  I  invite  the  correction  of  my  statement  of  it,  if  ne 
cessary.  It  is  alledged  that  the  system  operates  prejudicially  to 
the  cotton  planter,  by  diminishing  the  foreign  demand  for  his 
staple ;  that  we  cannot  sell  to  Great  Britain,  unless  we  buy  from 
her ;  that  the  import  duty  is  equivalent  to  an  export  duty,  and 
falls  upon  the  cotton  grower ;  that  South  Carolina  pays  a  dis 
proportionate  quota  of  the  public  revenue;  that  an  abandonment 
of  the  protective  policy  would  lead  to  an  augmentation  of  our  ex 
ports  of  an  amount  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  dollars;  and  finally,  that  the  south  cannot  partake  of  the  ad 
vantages  of  manufacturing,  if  there  be  any.  Let  us  examine 
these  various  propositions  in  detail.  1.  That  the  foreign  de 
mand  for  cotton  is  diminished  j  and  that  we  cannot  sell  to  Great 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  175 

Britain  unless  we  buy  from  her.  The  demand  of  both  our  great 
foreign  customers  is  constantly  and  annually  increasing.  It  is 
true,  that  the  ratio  of  the  increase  may  not  be  equal  to  that  of 
production ;  but  this  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  power  of  pro 
ducing  the  raw  material  is  much  greater,  and  is,  therefore,  con 
stantly  in  advance  of  the  power  of  consumption.  A  single  fact 
will  illustrate.  The  average  produce  of  laborers  engaged  in 
the  cultivation  of  cotton  may  be  estimated  at  five  bales,  or  fifteen 
hundred  weight  to  the  hand.  Supposing  the  annual  average 
consumption  of  each  individual  who  uses  cotton  cloth  to  be  five 
pounds,  one  hand  can  produce  enough  of  the  raw  material  to 
clothe  three  hundred. 

The  argument  comprehends  two  errors,  one  of  fact  and  the 
other  of  principle.  It  assumes  that  we  do  not  in  fact  purchase 
of  Great  Britain.  What  is  the  true  state  of  the  case  ?  There 
are  certain,  but  very  few  articles  which  it  is  thought  sound  policy 
requires  that  we  should  manufacture  at  home,  and  on  these  the 
tariff  operates.  But,  with  respect  to  all  the  rest,  and  much  the 
larger  number  of  articles  of  taste,  fashion,  and  utility,  they  are 
subject  to  no  other  than  revenue  duties  and  are  freely  introduced. 
I  have  before  me  from  the  treasury  a  statement  of  our  imports 
from  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  including  ten  years,  prece 
ding  the  last,  and  three  quarters  of  the  last  year,  from  which  it 
will  appear  that,  although  there  are  some  fluctuations  in  the 
amount  of  the  different  years,  the  largest  amount  imported  in  any 
one  year  has  been  since  the  tariff  of  1824,  and  that  the  last  year's 
importation,  when  the  returns  of  the  fourth  quarter  shall  be  re 
ceived,  will  probably  be  the  greatest  in  the  whole  term  of  eleven 
years. 

Now,  if  it  be  admitted  that  there  is  a  less  amount  of  the  pro 
tected  articles  imported  from  Great  Britain,  she  maybe,  and  pro 
bably  is,  compensated  for  the  deficiency,  by  the  increased  con 
sumption  in  America  of  the  articles  of  her  industry  not  falling 
within  the  scope  of  the  policy  of  our  protection.  The  establish 
ment  of  manufactures  among  us  excites  the  creation  of  wealth, 
and  this  gives  new  powers  of  consumption,  which  are  gratified 
by  the  purchase  of  foreign  objects.  A  poor  nation  can  never  be 
a  great  consuming  nation.  Its  poverty  will  limit  its  consumption 
to  bare  subsistence. 

The  erroneous  principle  which  the  argument  includes,  is,  that 
it  devolves  on  us  the  duty  of  taking  care^that  Great  Britain  shall 
be  enabled  to  purchase  from  us  without  exacting  from  Great  Bri 
tain  the  corresponding  duty.  If  it  be  true,  on  one  side,  that  na 
tions  are  bound  to  shape  their  policy  in  reference  to  the  ability 
of  foreign  powers,  it  must  be  true  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
And  this  reciprocal  obligation  ought  to  be  emphatically  regarded 
towards  the  nation  supplying  the  raw  material,  by  the  manufac 
turing  nation,  because  the  industry  of  the  latter  gives  four  or  five 
ralues  to  what  had  been  produced  by  the  industry  of  the  former. 

But,  does  Great  Britain  practice  towards  us  upon  the  princi- 


176  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

pies  which  we  are  now  required  to  observe  in  regard  to  her? 
The  exports  to  the  United  ^Kingdom,  as  appears  from  the  same 
treasury  statement  just  adverted  to,  during  eleven  years,  from 
1821  to  1831,  and  exclusive  of  the  fourth  quarter  of  the  last  year, 
fall  short  of  the  amount  of  imports  by  upwards  of  forty-six  mil 
lions  of  dollars,  and  the  total  amount,  when  the  returns  of  that 
quarter  are  received,  will  exceed  fifty  millions  of  dollars  !  It  is 
surprising  how  we  have  been  able  to  sustain,  for  so  long  a  time, 
a  trade  so  very  unequal.  We  must  have  been  absolutely  ruined 
by  it,  if  the  unfavorable  balance  had  not  been  neutralized  by 
more  profitable  commerce  with  other  parts  of  the  world.  Of  all 
nations,  Great  Britain  has  the  least  cause  to  complain  of  the  trade 
between  the  two  countries.  Our  imports  from  that  single  power 
are  nearly  one-third  of  the  entire  amount  of  our  importations 
from  all  foreign  countries  together.  Great  Britain  constantly 
acts  on  the  maxim  of  buying  only  what  she  wants  and  cannot 
produce,  and  selling  to  foreign  nations  the  utmost  amount  she 
can.  In  conformity  with  this  maxim,  she  excludes  articles  of 
prime  necessity  produced  by  us — equally  if  not  more  necessary 
than  any  of  her  industry  which  we  tax,  although  the  admission 
of  those  articles  would  increase  our  ability  to  purchase  from  her, 
according  to  the  argument  of  gentlemen. 

If  we  purchased  still  less  from  Great  Britain  than  we  do,  and 
our  conditions  were  reversed,  so  that  the  value  of  her  imports 
from  this  country  exceeded  that  of  her  exports  to  it,  she  would 
only  then  be  compelled  to  do  what  we  have  so  long  done,  and 
what  South  Carolina  does,  in  her  trade  with  Kentucky,  make  up 
for  the  unfavorable  balance  by  trade  with  other  places  and  coun 
tries.  How  does  she  now  dispose  of  the  one  hundred  and  sixty 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  cotton  fabrics,  which  she  annually 
sells?  Of  that  amount  the  United  States  do  not  purchase  five 
per  cent.  What  becomes  of  the  other  ninety-five  per  cent  ?  Is 
it  not  sold  to  other  powers,  and  would  not  their  markets  remain, 
if  ours  were  totally  shut  ?  Would  she  not  continue,  as  she  now 
finds  it  her  interest,  to  purchase  the  raw  material  from  us,  to  sup 
ply  those  markets  ?  Would  she  be  guilty  of  the  folly  of  depri 
ving  herself  of  markets  to  the  amount  of  upwards  of  $150,000,- 
000,  because  we  refused  her  a  market  for  some  eight  or  ten  mil 
lions  ? 

But  if  there  were  a  diminution  of  the  British  demand  for  cot 
ton  equal  to  the  loss  of  a  market  for  the  few  British  fabrics  which 
are  within  the  scope  of  our  protective  policy,  the  question  would 
still  remain,  whether  the  cotton  planter  is  not  amply  indemnified 
by  the  creation  of  additional  demand  elsewhere  ?  With  respect 
to  the  cotton-grower,  it  is  the  totality  of  the  demand,  and  not  its 
distribution,  which  affects  his  interests.  If  any  system  of  policy 
will  augment  the  aggregate  of  the  demand,  that  system  is  favor 
able  to  his  interests,  although  its  tendency  may  be  to  vary  the 
theatre  of  the  demand.  It  could  not,  for  example,  be  injurious 
to  him,  if,  instead  of  Great  Britain  continuing  to  receive  the  en- 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  177 

tire  quantity  of  cotton  which  she  now  does,  two  or  three  hun 
dred  thousand  bales  of  it  were  taken  to  the  other  side  of  the 
channel,  and  increased,  to  that  extent,  the  French  demand.  It 
would  be  better  for  him,  because  it  is  always  better  to  have  sev 
eral  markets  than  one.  Now,  if,  instead  of  a  transfer  to  the  op 
posite  side  of  the  channel,  of  those  two  or  three  hundred  thou 
sand  bales,  they  are  transported  to  the  northern  states,  can  that 
be  injurious  to  the  cotton  grower?  Is  it  not  better  for  him?  Is 
it  not  better  to  have  a  market  at  home,  unaffected  by  war  or  oth 
er  foreign  causes,  for  that  amount  of  his  staple  ? 

If  the  establishment  of  American  manufactures,  therefore,  had 
the  sole  effect  of  creating  a  new,  and  an  American  demand  for 
cotton,  exactly  to  the  same  extent  in  which  it  lessened  the  British 
demand,  there  would  be  no  just  cause  of  complaint  against  the 
tariff.  The  gain  in  one  place  would  precisely  equal  the  loss  in 
the  other.  But  the  true  state  of  the  matter  is  much  more  favora 
ble  to  the  cotton  grower.  It  is  calculated  that  the  cotton  manu 
factories  of  the  United  States  absorb  at  least  200,000  bales  of 
cotton  annually.  I  believe  it  to  be  more.  The  two  ports  of  Bos 
ton  and  Providence  alone  received,  during  the  last  year,  near 
110,000  bales.  The  amount  is  annually  increasing.  The  raw 
material  of  that  two  hundred  thousand  bales  is  worth  six  mil 
lions,  and  there  is  an  additional  value  conferred  by  the  manu 
facturer,  of  eighteen  millions ;  it  being  generally  calculated  that, 
in  such  cotton  fabrics  as  we  are  in  the  habit  of  making,  the  man 
ufacture  constitutes  three  fourths  of  the  value  of  the  article.  If, 
therefore,  these  twenty-four  millions  worth  of  cotton  fabrics  were 
not  made  in  the  United  States,  but  were  manufactured  in  Great 
Britain,  in  order  to  obtain  them,  we  should  have  to  add  to  the 
already  enormous  disproportion  between  the  amount  of  our  im 
ports  arid  exports,  in  the  trade  with  Great  Britain,  the  further 
sum  of  twenty-four  millions,  or,  deducting  the  price  of  the  raw 
material,  eighteen  millions  !  And  will  gentlemen  tell  me  how  it 
would  be  possible  for  this  country  to  sustain  such  a  ruinous  trade? 
From  all  that  portion  of  the  United  States  lying  north  and  east 
of  James  river,  and  west  of  the  mountains,  Great  Britain  receives 
comparatively  nothing.  How  would  it  be  possible  for  the  in 
habitants  of  that  largest  portion  of  our  territory,  to  supply  them 
selves  with  cotton  fabrics,  if  they  were  brought  from  England 
exclusively?  They  could  not  do  it.  But  for  the  existence  of  the 
American  manufacture,  they  would  be  compelled  greatly  to  cur 
tail  their  supplies,  if  not  absolutely  to  suffer  in  their  comforts. 
By  its  existence  at  home,  the  circle  of  those  exchanges  is  created 
which  reciprocally  diffuses  among  all  who  are  embraced  within 
it  the  productions  of  their  respective  industry.  The  cotton 
grower  sells  the  raw  material  to  the  manufacturer ;  he  buys  the 
iron,  the  bread,  the  meal,  the  coal,  and  the  countless  number  of 
objects  of  his  consumption,  from  his  fellow-citizens,  and  they 
in  turn  purchase  his  fabrics.  Putting  it  upon  the  ground  merely 
of  supplying  those  with  necessary  articles  who  could  not  other- 


178  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

v '  '  •"*'*.  ••*"-'*          •       .*  •'       •  •»*'?,"'•*,*''''  "'  . '  *.  r>  t'  • 

wise  obtain  them,  ought  there  to  be,  from  any  quarter,  an  objec* 
tion  to  the  only  system  by  which  that  object  can  be  accomplished? 
But  can  there  be  any  doubt,  with  those  who  will  reflect,  that  the 
actual  amount  of  cotton  consumed  is  increased  by  the  home 
manufacture?  The  main  argument  of  gentlemen  is  founded 
upon  the  idea  of  mutual  ability  resulting  from  mutual  exchanges. 
They  would  furnish  an  ability  to  foreign  nations  by  purchasing- 
from  them,  and  I  to  our  own  people,  by  exchanges  at  home.  If 
the  American  manufacture  were  discontinued,  and  that  of  Eng 
land  were  to  take  its  place,  how  would  she  sell  the  additional 
quantity  of  twenty-four  millions  of  cotton  goods,  which  ,we  now 
make?  To  us?  That  has  been  shown  to  be  impracticable.  To 
other  foreign  nations?  She  has  already  pushed  her  supplies 
to  them  to  the  utmost  extent.  The  ultimate  consequence  would, 
then,  be  to  diminish  the  total  consumption  of  cotton,  to  say 
nothing  now  of  the  reduction  of  price  that  would  take  place  by 
throwing  into  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  the  two  hundred  thou 
sand  bales  which,  no  longer  being  manufactured  in  the  United 
States,  would  go  thither. 

2.  That  the  import  duty  is  equivalent  to  an  export  duty,  and 
falls  on  the  producer  of  cotton. 

[Here  Gen.  Hayne  explained,  and  said  that  he  neyer  contended 
that  an  import  duty  was  equivalent  to  an  export  duty,  under  all 
circumstances ;  he  had  explained  in  his  speech  his  ideas  of  the 
precise  operation  of  the  existing  system.  To  which  Mr.  Clay 
replied  that  he  had  seen  the  argument  so  stated  in  some  of  the 
ingenious  essays  from  the  South  Carolina  press,  and  would 
therefore  answer  it] 

The  framers  of  our  constitution,  by  granting  the  power  to- 
Congress  to  lay  imports,  and  prohibiting  that  of  laying  an  export 
duty,  manifested  that  they  did  not  regard  them  as  equivalent 
Nor  does  the  common  sense  of  mankind.  An  export  duty  fastens 
upon,  and  incorporates  itself  with,  the  article  on  which  it  is  laid. 
The  article  cannot  escape  from  it — it  pursues  and  follows  it, 
wherever  the  article  goes;  and  if,  in  the  foreign  market,  the 
supply  is  above  or  just  equal  to  the  demand,  the  amount  of  the 
export  duty  will  be  a  clear  deduction  to  the  exporter  from  the 
price  of  the  article.  But  an  import  duty  on  a  foreign  article 
leaves  the  exporter  of  the  domestic  article  free,  1st  to  import 
specie;  2dly,  goods  which  are  free  from  the  protecting  duty;  or, 
3dly,  such  goods  as,  being  chargeable  with  the  protecting  duty> 
he  can  sell  at  home,  and  throw  the  duty  on  the  consumer. 

But,  it  is  confidently  argued  that  the  import  duty  falls  upon  the 
grower  of  cotton;  and  the  case  has  been  put  in  debate,  and  again 
and  again  in  conversation,  of  the  South  Carolina  planter,  who  ex 
ports  100  bales  of  cotton  to  Liverpool,  exchanges  them  for  100 
Dales  of  merchandize,  and,  when  he  brings  them  home,  being 
compelled  to  leave,  at  the  custom  house,  forty  bales  in  the  form 
of  duties.  The  argument  is  founded  on  the  assumption  that  a 
duty  d  forty  per  cent,  amounts  to  a  subtraction  of  forty  from. 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  179 

the  100  bales  of  merchandize.  The  first  objection  to  it  is,  that 
it  supposes  a  case  of  barter,  which  never  occurs.  If  it  be  re 
plied,  that  it  nevertheless  occurs  in  the  operations  of  commerce, 
the  answer  would  be  that,  since  the  export  of  Carolina  cotton  is 
chiefly  made  by  New- York  or  foreign  merchants,  the  loss  stated, 
if  it  really  accrued,  would  fall  upon  them,  and  not  upon  the 
planter.  But,  to  test  the  correctness  of  the  hypothetical  case, 
let  us  suppose  that  the  duty,  instead  of  forty  per  cent,  should 
be  150,  which  is  asserted  to  be  the  duty  in  some  cases.  Then, 
the  planter  would  not  only  lose  the  whole  hundred  bales  of  mer 
chandize,  which  he  had  gotten  for  his  hundred  bales  of  cotton, 
but  he  would  have  to  purchase,  with  other  means,  an  additional 
fifty  bales,  in  order  to  enable  him  to  pay  the  duties  accruing  on 
the  proceeds  of  the  cotton.  Another  answer  is,  that  if  the  pro 
ducer  of  cotton  in  America,  exchanged  against  English  fabrics, 
pays  the  duty,  the  producer  of  those  fabrics  also  pays  it,  and 
then  it  is  twice  paid.  Such  must  be  the  consequence,  unless  the 
principle  is  true  on  one  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  false  on  the 
other.  The  true  answer  is,  that  the  exporter  of  an  article,  if  he 
invests  its  proceeds  in  a  foreign  market,  takes  care  to  make  the 
investment  in  such  merchandize  as,  when  brought  home,  he  can 
sell  with  a  fair  profit;  and,  consequently,  the  consumer  would 
pay  the  original  cost,  and  charges  and  profit. 

3.  The  next  objection  to  the  American  system  is,  that  it  subjects 
South  Carolina  to  the  payment  of  an  undue  proportion  ol  the 
public  revenue.  The  basis  of  this  objection  is  the  assumption, 
shown  to  have  been  erroneous,  that  the  producer  of  the  exports 
from  this  country  pays  the  duty  on  its  imports,  instead  of  the 
consumer  of  those  imports.  The  amount  which  South  Carolina 
really  contributes  to  the  puplic  revenue,  no  more  than  that  of 
any  other  State,  can  be  precisely  ascertained.  It  depends  upon 
her  consumption  of  articles  paying  duties,  and  we  may  make  an 
approximation  sufficient  for  all  practical  purposes.  The  cotton 
planters  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  with  whom  I  am  ac 
quainted,  generally  expend  about  one-third  of  their  income  in 
the  support  of  their  families  and  plantations.  On  this  subject  I 
hold  in  my  hands  a  statement  from  a  friend  of  mine,  of  great 
accuracy,  and  a  member  of  the  Senate.  According  to  this  state 
ment,  in  a  crop  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  the  expenses  may  fluc 
tuate  between  two  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  and  three 
thousand  two  hundred  dollars.  Of  this  sum,  about  one-fourth, 
from  seven  to  eight  hundred  dollars,  may  be  laid  out  in  articles 
paying  the  protecting  duty;  the  residue  is  disbursed  for  pro 
visions,  mules,  horses,  oxen,  wages  of  overseer,  &c.  Estimating 
the  exports  of  South  Carolina  at  eight  millions,  one-third  is  two 
millions  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and 
sixty-six  dollars ;  of  which,  one  fourth  will  be  six  hundred  and 
sixty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  and  two-thirds  dol 
lars.  Now  supposing  the  protecting  duty  to  be  fifty  per  cent, 
and  that  it  all  enters  into  the  price  of  the  article,  the  amount 


•  ••-• .  -•     .-.  ,*  -.'.  -;  .-o 

ISO  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

paid  by  South  Carolina  would  only  be  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  and  one-third 
dollars.  But  the  total  revenue  of  the  United  States  may  be 
stated  at  twenty-five  millions,  of  which  the  proportion  of  South 
Carolina,  whatever  standard,  whether  of  wealth  or  population, 
be  adopted,  would  be  about  one  million.  Of  course,  on  this 
view  of  the  subject,  she  actually  pays  only  about  one-third  of  her 
fair  and  legitimate  share.  I  repeat,  that  I  have  no  personal 
knowledge  of  the  habits  of  actual  expenditure  in  South  Caroli 
na  ;  they  may  be  greater  than  I  have  stated,  in  respect  to  other 
parts  of  the  cotton  country;  but  if  they  are,  that  fact  does  not 
arise  from  any  defect  in  the  system  of  public  policy. 

4.  An  abandonment  of  the  American  system,  it  is  urged,  would 
lead  to  an  addition  to  our  exports  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  mil 
lions  of  dollars.  The  amount  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  cotton,  in  the  raw  state,  would  produce  four  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  in  the  manufactured  state,  supposing  no  greater 
measure  of  value  to  be  communicated,  in  the  manufactured 
form,  than  that  which  our  industry  imparts.  Now,  sir,  where 
would  markets  be  found  for  this  vast  addition  to  the  supply? 
Not  in  the  United  States,  certainly,  nor  in  any  other  quarter  of 
the  globe,  England  having  already  every  where  pressed  her 
cotton  manufactures  to  the  utmost  point  of  repletion.  We  must 
look  out  for  new  worlds;  seek  for  new  and  unknown  races  of 
mortals  to  consume  this  immense  increase  of  cotton  fabrics. 

[Gen.  Hayne  said  that  he  did  not  mean  that  the  increase  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  to  the  amount  of  our  exports 
would  be  of  cotton  alone,  but  of  other  articles.] 

What  other  articles?  Agricultural  produce — bread  stuffs, 
beef  and  pork?  &c.  Where  shall  we  find  markets  for  them? 
Whither  shall  we  go?  To  what  country  whose  ports  are  not 
hermetically  sealed  against  their  admission  ?  Break  down  the 
home  market,  and  you  are  without  resource.  Destroy  all  other 
interests  in  the  country,  for  the  imaginary  purpose  of  advancing 
the  cotton  planting  interest,  and  you  inflict  a  positive  injury, 
without  the  smallest  practical  benefit  to  the  cotton  planter. 
Could  Charleston,  or  the  whole  south,  when  all  other  markets 
are  prostrated,  or  shut  against  the  reception  of  the  surplus  of  our 
farmers,  receive  that  surplus?  Would  they  buy  more  than  they 
might  want  for  their  own  consumption?  Could  they  find  mar 
kets  which  other  parts  of  the  Union  could  not?  Would  gentle 
men  force  the  freemen  of  all  north  of  James  river,  east  and 
west,  like  the  miserable  slave,  on  the  Sabbath  day,  to  repair  to 
Charleston,  with  a  turkey  under  his  arm,  or  a  pack  upon  his 
back,  and  beg  the  clerk  of  some  English  or  Scotch  merchant, 
living  in  his  gorgeous  palace,  or  rolling  in  his  splendid  coach  in 
the  streets,  to  exchange  his  "truck"  for  a  bit  of  flannel  to  cover 
his  naked  wife  and  children!  No.!  I  am  sure  that  I  do  no  more 
than  justice  to  their  hearts,  when  I  believe  that  they  would  reject, 
what  I  believe  to  be  the  inevitable  effects  of  their  policy. 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  181 

5.  But  it  is  contended,  in  the  last  place,  that  the  south  cannot, 
from  physical,  arid  other  causes,  engage  in  the  manufacturing 
•arts,  I  deny  the  premises,  and  I  deny  the  conclusion.  I  deny 
the  fact  of  inability,  and,  if  it  existed,  I  deny  the  conclusion  that 
we  must,  therefore,  break  down  our  manufactures,  and  nourish 
those  of  foreign  countries.  The  south  possesses,  in  an  extraor 
dinary  degree,  two  of  the  most  important  elements  of  manufac 
turing  industry — water  power  and  labor.  The  former  gives  to 
our  whole  country  a  most  decided  advantage  over  Great  Britain. 
But  a  single  experiment,  stated  by  the  gentleman  from  South 
Carolina,  in  which  a  faithless  slave  put  the  torch  to  a  manufac 
turing  establishment,  has  discouraged  similar  enterprizes.  We 
have,  in  Kentucky,  the  same  description  of  population,  and  we 
employ  them,  and  almost,  exclusively  employ  them,  in  many  of 
our  hemp  manufactories.  A  neighbor  of  mine,  one  of  our  most 
opulent  and  respectable  citizens,  lias  had  one,  two,  if  not  three, 
manufactories  burnt  by  incendiaries  ;  but  he  persevered,  and  his 
perseverance  has  been  rewarded  with  wealth.  We  found  that 
it  was  less  expensive  to  keep  nighi  watches,  than  to  pay  premi 
ums  for  insurance,  and  we  employed  them. 

Let  it  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  south  cannot  manufac 
ture;  must  those  parts  of  the  Union  which  can,  be  therefore  pre~ 
vented?  Must  we  support  those  of  foreign  countries?  I  am 
sure  that  injustice  would  be  done  to  the  generous  and  patriotic 
nature  of  South  Carolina,  if  it  were  believed  that  she  envied  or 
repined  at  the  success  of  other  portions  of  the  Union  in  branches 
of  industry  to  which  she  might  happen  not  to  be  adapted. — 
Throughout  her  whole  career  she  has  been  liberal,  national, 
high  minded. 

The  friends  of  the  American  system  have  been  reminded  by 
the  honorable  gentleman  from  Maryland,  (Gen.  Smith)  that 
they  are  the  majority,  and  he  has  admonished  them  to  exercise 
their  power  in  moderation.  The  majority  ought  never  to  trample 
upon  the  feelings,  or  violate  the  just  rights  of  the  minority. 
They  ought  never  to  triumph  over  the  fallen,  nor  to  make  any 
but  a  temperate  and  equitable  use  of  their  power.  But  these 
counsels  come  with  an  ill  grace  from  the  gentleman  from  Mary 
land.  He,  too,  is  a  member  of  a  majority — a  political  majority. 
And  how  has  the  administration  of  that  majority  exercised  their 
power  in  this  country  ?  Recall  to  your  recollection  the  fourth  of 
March,  1829,  when  the  lank,  lean  famished  forms,  from  fen  and 
forest,  and  the  four  quarters  of  the  Union,  gathered  together  in 
the  halls  of  patronage ;  or  stealing,  by  evening's  twilight,  into 
the  apartments  of  the  president's  mansion,  cried  out,  with  ghast 
ly  faces,  and  in  sepulchral  tones:  "Give  us  bread!  Give  us 
treasury  pap  !  Give  us  our  reward!"  England's  bard  was  mis 
taken  ;  ghosts  will  sometimes  come,  called  or  uncalled.  Go  to 
the  families  who  were  driven  from  the  employments  on  which 
they  were  dependent  for  subsistence,  in  consequence  of  their  ei- 
16 


182  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

ercise  of  the  dearest  right  of  freemen.  Go  to  mothers,  whilst 
hugging  to  their  bosoms  their  starving  children.  Go  to  fathers, 
who,  after  being  disqualified  by  long  public  service,  for  any  other 
business,  were  stripped  of  their  humble  places,  and  then  sought, 
by  the  minions  of  authority,  to  be  stripped  of  all  that  was  left 
them — their  good  names — and  ask,  what  mercy  was  shown  to 
them !  As  for  myself,  born  in  the  midst  of  the  revolution,  the 
first  air  that  I  ever  breathed  on  my  native  soil  of  Virginia,  having 
been  that  of  liberty  and  independence,  I  never  expected  justice?, 
nor  desired  mercy  at  their  hands  j  and  scorn  the  wrath  and  defy 
the  oppression  of  power. 

I  regret,  Mr.  President,  that  one  topic  has,  I  think,  unneces 
sarily  been  introduced  into  this  debate.  I  allude  to  the  charge 
brought  against  the  manufacturing  system,  as  favoring  the 
growth  of  aristocracy.  If  it  were  true,  would  gentlemen  prefer 
supporting  foreign  accumulations  of  wealth,  by  that  description 
of  industry,  rather  than  in  their  own  country  ?  But  is  it  correct  ? 
The  joint  stock  companies  of  the  north,  as  I  understand  them, 
are  nothing  more  than  associations,  sometimes  of  hundreds,  by 
means  of  which  the  small  earnings  of  many  are  brought  into  a 
common  stock,  and  the  associates,  obtaining  corporate  privi 
leges,  are  enabled  to  prosecute,  under  one  superintending  head, 
their  business  to  better  advantage.  Nothing  can  be  more  essen 
tially  democratic  or  better  devised  to  counterpoise  the  influence 
of  individual  wealth.  In  Kentucky,  almost  every  manufactory 
known  to  me,  is  in  the  hands  of  enterprising  and  self-made  men, 
who  have  acquired  whatever  wealth  they  possess  by  patient  and 
diligent  labor.  Comparisons  are  odious,  and,  but  in  defence, 
would  not  be  made  by  me.  But  is  there  more  tendency  to  aris 
tocracy,  in  a  manufactory,  supporting  hundreds  of  freemen,  or  in 
a  cotton  plantation,  with  its  not  less  numerous  slaves,  sustaining 
perhaps  only  two  white  families — that  of  the  master  and  the 
overseer  ? 

I  pass,  with  pleasure,  from  this  disagreeable  topic,  to  two  gen 
eral  propositions  which  cover  the  entire  ground  of  debate.  The 
first  is  that  under  the  operation  of  the  American  system,  the  ob 
jects  which  it  protects  and  fosters  are  brought  to  the  consumer 
at  cheaper  prices  than  they  commanded  prior  to  its  introduc 
tion,  or  than  they  would  command  if  it  did  not  exist.  If  that  be 
true,  ought  not  the  country  to  be  contented  and  satisfied  with  the 
system,  unless  the  second  proposition,  which  I  mean  presently 
also  to  consider,  is  unfounded  ?  And  that  is,  that  the  tendency 
of  the  system  is  to  sustain,  and  that  it  has  upheld,  the  prices  of 
all  our  agricultural  and  other  produce,  including  cotton. 

And  is  the  fact  not  indisputable,  that  all  essential  objects  of 
consumption,  affected  by  the  tariff,  are  cheaper  and  better,  since 
the  act  of  1824,  than  they  were  for  several  years  prior  to  that 
law?  I  appeal,  for  its  truth,  to  common  observation  and  to  all 
practical  men.  I  appeal  to  the  farmer  of  the  country,  whether 
ne  does  not  purchase  on  better  terms  his  iron,  salt,  brown  sugar, 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  183 

cotton  goods,  and  woollens,  for  his  laboring  people  ?  And  I  ask 
the  cotton  planter  if  he  has  not  been  better  and  more  cheaplv 
supplied  with  his  cotton  bagging  ?  In  regard  to  this  latter  ar 
ticle,  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  was  mistaken  in  pup- 
posing  that  I  complained  that,  under  the  existing  duty,  the  Ken 
tucky  manufacturer  could  not  compete  with  the  Scotch.  The 
Kentuckian  furnishes  a  more  substantial  and  a  cheaper  article, 
and  at  a  more  uniform  and  regular  price.  But  it  was  the  frauds 
the  violations  of  law,  of  which  I  did  complain;  not  smuggling,  in 
the  common  sense  of  that  practice,  which  has  something  bold 
daring,  and  enterprising  in  it,  but  mean,  barefaced  cheating  by 
fraudulent  invoices  and  false  denomination. 

I  plant  myself  upon  this  fact,  of  cheapness  and  superiority,  as 
upon  impregnable  ground.  Gentlemen  may  tax  their  ingenuity 
and  produce  a  thousand  speculative  solutions  of  the  fact,  but  the 
fact  itself  will  remain  undisturbed.  Let  us  look  into  some  par 
ticulars.  The  total  consumption  of  bar  iron,  in  the  United 
States,  is  supposed  to  be  about  146,000  tons,  of  which,  112,866 
tons  are  made  within  the  country,  and  the  residue  imported. 
The  number  of  men  employed  in  the  manufacture  is  estimated 
at  29,254,  and  the  total  number  of  persons  subsisted  by  it,  at 
146,273.  The  measure  of  protection  extended  to  this  necessary 
article,  was  never  fully  adequate  until  the  passage  of  the  act  of 
1828;  and  what  has  been  the  consequence?  The  annual  in 
crease  of  quantity,  since  that  period,  has  been  in  a  ratio  of  near 
twenty-five  per  cent,  and  the  wholesale  price  of  bar  iron  in  the 
northern  cities,  was,  in  1828,  $105  per  ton,  in  1829,  $100,  in  1830 
$90,  and  in  1831,  from  $85  to  $75— constantly  diminishing.  We 
import  very  little  English  iron,  and  that  which  we  do, Is  very 
inferior,  and  only  adapted  to  a  few  purposes.  In  instituting 
a  comparison  between  that  inferior  article  and  our  superior  iron 
subjects  entirely  different  are  compared.  They  are  made  by 
different  processes.  The  English  cannot  make  iron  of  equal 
quality  to  ours,  at  a  less  price  than  we  do.  They  have  three 
classes,  best-best,  and  best,  and  ordinary.  It  is  the  latter  which 
is  imported.  Of  the  whole  amount  imported,  there  is  only  about 
4,000  tons  of  foreign  iron  that  pays  the  high  duty;  the  residue 
paying  only  a  duty  of  about  thirty  per  cent.,  estimated  on  the 
prices  of  the  importation  of  1829.  Our  iron  ore  is  superior  to 
that  of  Great  Britain,  yielding  often  from  sixty  to  eighty  per 
cent,  whilst  theirs  produces  only  about  twenty-five.  This  fact  is 
so  well  known,  that  I  have  heard  of  recent  exportation^  of  iron 
ore  to  England. 

It  has  been  alledged,  that  bar  iron,  being  a  raw  material 
ought  to  be  admitted  free,  or  with  low  duties,  for  the  sake  of  the 
manufacturers  themselves.  But  I  take  this  to  be  the  true  prin 
ciple,  that,  if  our  country  is  producing  a  raw  material  of  prime 
necessity,  and  with  reasonable  protection,  can  produce  it  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  supply  our  wants,  that  raw  material  ought 
to  be  protected,  although  it  may  be  proper  to  protect  the  article 


184  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

also  out  of  which  it  is  manufactured.  The  tailor  will  ask  protec 
tion  for  himself,  but  wishes  it  denied  to  the  grower  of  wool  and 
the  manufacturer  of  broadcloth.  The  cotton  planter  enjoys 
protection  for  the  raw  material,  but  does  not  desire  it  to  be  ex 
tended  to  the  cotton  manufacturer.  The  ship-builder  will  ask  pro 
tection  for  navigation,  but  does  not  wish  it  extended  to  the  essen 
tial  articles  which  enter  into  the  construction  of  his  ship.  Each, 
in  his  proper  vocation,  solicits  protection,  but  would  have  it  de 
nied  to  all  other  interests  which  are  supposed  to  come  into  col 
lision  with  his.  Now  the  duty  of  the  statesman  is,  to  elevate 
himself  above  these  petty  conflicts  ;  calmly  to  survey  all  the  va 
rious  interests,  and  deliberately  to  proportion  the  measure  of  pro 
tection  lo  each,  according  to  its  nature  and  to  the  general  wants 
of  society.  It  is  quite  possible  that,  in  the  degree  of  protection 
which  has  been  afforded  to  the  various  workers  in  iron,  there 
may  be  some  error  committed,  although  I  have  lately  read  an 
argument  of  much  ability,  proving  that  no  injustice  has  really 
been  done  to  them.  If  there  be,  it  ought  to  be  remedied. 

The  next  article  to  which  I  would  call  the  attention  of  the 
senate,  is  that  of  cotton  fabrics.  The  success  of  our  manufac 
ture  of  coarse  cottons  is  generally  admitted.  It  is  demonstrated 
by  the  fact  that  they  meet  the  cotton  fabrics  of  other  countries, 
in  foreign  markets,  and  maintain  a  successful  competition  with 
them.  There  has  been  a  gradual  increase  of  the  exports  of  this 
article,  which  is  sent  to  Mexico  and  the  South  American  repub 
lics,  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  even  to  Asia.  The  remarkable 
fact  was  lately  communicated  to  me,  that  the  same  individual 
who,  twenty-five  years  ago,  was  engaged  in  the  importation  of 
cotton  cloth  from  Asia,  for  American  consumption,  is  now  en 
gaged  in  the  exportation  of  coarse  American  cottons  to  Asia, 
for  Asiatic  consumption!  And  my  honorable  friend  from  Massa 
chusetts,  now  in  my  eye,  (Mr.  Silsbee),  informed  me  that,  on 
his  departure  from  home,  among  the  last  orders  which  he  gave, 
one  was  for  the  exportation  of  coarse  cottons  to  Sumatra,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Calcutta !  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  statement,  derived 
from  the  most  authentic  source,  showing  that  the  identical  de 
scription  of  cotton  cloth,  which  sold,  in  1817,  at  twenty-nine  cents 
per  yard,  was  sold  in  1819,  at  twenty-one  cents,  in  1821,  at  nine 
teen  and  a  half  cents,  in  1823,  at  seventeen  cents,  in  1825,  at 
fourteen  and  a  half  cents,  in  1827,  at  thirteen  cents,  in  1829  at 
nine  cents,  in  1830,  at  nine  and  a  half  cents,  and  in  1831,  at  from 
ten  and  a  half  to  eleven.  Such  is  the  wonderful  effect  of  protec 
tion,  competition,  and  improvement  in  skill,  combined  !  The 
year  1829  was  one  of  some  suffering  to  this  branch  of  industry, 

grobably  owing  to  the  principle  of  competition  being  pushed  too 
ir ;  hence  weVbserve  a  small  rise  in  the  article  of  the  next  two 
years.  The  introduction  of  calico  printing  into  the  United 
States,  consitutes  an  important  era  in  our  manufacturing  indus 
try.  It  commenced  about  the  year  1825,  and  has  since  made 
such  astonishing  advances,  that  the  whole  quantity  now  annu- 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  186 

ally  printed  is  but  little  short  of  forty  millions  of  yards— about 
two-thirds  of  our  whole  consumption.  It  is  a  beautiful  manufac 
ture,  combining  great  mechanical  skill  with  scientific  discoveries 
in  chemistry.  The  engraved  cylinders  for  making  the  impres 
sion  require  much  taste,  and  put  in  requisition  the  o-enius  of  the 
fine  arts  of  design  and  engraving.  Are  the  fine  graceful  forms  of 
our  fair  countrywomen  less  lovely  when  enveloped  in  the  chintse* 
and  calicoes  produced  by  native  industry,  than  when  clothed  in 
the  tinsel  of  foreign  drapery  ? 

Gentlemen  are,  no  doubt,  surprised  at  these  facts.  They  should 
not  underrate  the  energies,  the  enterprise,  and  the  skill,  of  our 
fellow-citizens.     I  have  no  doubt  they  are  every  way  competent 
to  accomplish  whatever  can  be  effected  by  any  other  people  if 
encouraged  and  protected  by  the  fostering  care  of  our  own  gov 
ernment     Will  gentlemen  believe  the  fact,  which  I  am  author 
ised  now  to  state,  that  the  United  States,  at  this  time,  manufac 
ture  one-hall  the  quantity  of  cotton  which  Great  Britain  did  in 
We  possess  three  great  advantages:  1st.  The  raw  ma 
terial.     2d.  Water  power  instead  of  that  of  steam,  generally  used 
m  England.     And  3d.  The  cheaper  labor  of  females.     In  Eng 
land,  males  spin  with  the  mule  and  weave ;  in  this  country  wo 
men  and  girls  spin  with  the  throstle  and  superintend  the  power 
S??' ,        d  can  thcre  be  any  employment  more  appropriate  ? 
Who  has  not;  been  delighted  with  contemplating  the  clock-work 
regularity  of  a  large  cotton  manufactory?     I  have  often  visited 
them,  at  Cincinnati  and  other  places,  and  always  with  increased 
admiration.     The  women,  separated  from  the  other  sex,  work  in 
apartments,  large,  airy,  well  warmed,  and  spacious.     Neatly 
dressed  with  ruddy  complexions,  and  happy  countenances,  they 
watch  the  work  before  them,  mend  the  broken  tiireads,  and  re 
place  the  exhausted  balls  or  broaches.     At  stated  hours  they  are 
called  to  their  meals,  and  go  and  return  with  light  and  cheerful 
step.     At  night  they  separate,  and  repair  to  their  respective  hou 
ses  under  the  care  of  a  mother,  guardian  or  friend.     «  Six  days 
shalt  thou  labor  and  do  all  that  thou  hast  to  do,  but  the  seventh 
day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God.:'     Accordingly,  we  be- 
hpid  them,  on  that  sacred  day,  assembled  together  in  His  tem 
ples,  and  in  devotional  attitudes  and  with  pTous  countenances 
tiering  their  prayers  to  Heaven  for  all  its  blessings,  of  which  it 
is  not  the  least  that  a  system  of  policy  has  been  adopted  by  their 
country,  which  admits  of  their  obtaining  a  comfortable  subsist 
ence.     Manufactures  have  brought  into  profitable  employment  a 
vast  amount  of  female  labor,  which,  without  them,  would  be  lost 
to  the  country. 

In  respect  to  woollens,  every  gentleman's  own  observation  and 
experience  will  enable  him  to  judge  of  the  great  reduction  of 
price  which  has  taken  place  in  most  of  these  articles,  since  the 
torifi  of  1824.  It  would  have  been  still  greater,  but  for  the  high 
duty  on  the  raw  material,  imposed  for  the  particular  benefit  of 
16* 


136  IN  DEFENCE  OB' 

the  farming  interest.  But,  without  going  into  particular  details, 
1  shall  limit  my. self  to  inviting  the  attention  of  the  senate  to  a  sin 
gle  article  of  general  and  necessary  use.  The  protection  given 
to  flannels  in  1S2S  was  fully  adequate.  It  lias  enabled  the  Ame 
rican  manufacturer  to  obtain  complete  possession  of  the  Ameri 
can  market ;  and  now,  let  us  look  at  the  effect.  I  have  before  me 
a  statement  from  a  highly  respectable  mercantile  house,  showing 
the  price  of  four  descriptions  of  flannel,  during  six  years.  The 
average  price  of  them,  in  1826,  was  thirty-eight  and  three-quar 
ter  cents;  in  1S27,  thirty-eight;  in  1828,  (the  year  of  the  tariff,) 
forty-six ;  in  1829,  thirty-six ;  in  1830,  (notwithstanding  the  ad 
vance  in  the  price  of  the  wool,)  thirty-two ;  and  in  1831,  thirty- 
two  and  one-quarter.  These  facts  require  no  comments.  I  have 
before  me  another  statement  of  a  practical  and  respectable  man, 
well  versed  in  the  flannel  manufacture  in  America  and  England, 
demonstrating  that  the  cost  of  manufacture  is  precisely  the  same 
in  both  countries ;  and  that,  although  a  yard  of  flannel  which 
would  sell  in  England  at  15  cents,  would  command  here  twenty- 
two,  the  difference  of  seven  cents  is  the  exact  difference  between 
the  duties  in  the  two  countries,  which  are  paid  on  the  six  ounces 
of  wool  contained  in  a  yard  of  flannel. 

Brown  sugar,  during  ten  years,  from  1792  to  1802,  with  a  duty 
of  one  and  a  half  cents  per  pound,  averaged  fourteen  cents  per 
pound.  The  same  article,  during  ten  years,  from  1S20  to  1830, 
with  a  duty  of  three  cents,  has  averaged  only  eight  cents  per 
pound.  Nails,  with  a  duty  of  five  cents  per  pound,  are  selling  at 
six  cents.  Window  glass,  eight  by  ten,  prior  to  the  tariff  of  1824. 
sold  at,  twelve  or  thirteen  dollars  per  hundred  feet;  it  now  sells 
for  three  dollars  seventy-five  cents. 

The  gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  sensible  of  the  incontes- 
tible  fact  of  the  very  great  reduction  in  the  prices  of  the  neces 
saries  of  life,  protected  by  the  American  system,  has  felt  the  lull 
force  of  it,  and  has  presented  various  explanations  of  the  causes 
to  which  he  ascribes  it.  The  first  is  the  diminished  production 
of  the  precious  metals,  in  consequence  of  the  distressed  state  of 
the  countries  in.  which  they  are  extracted,  and  the  consequent 
increase  of  their  value  relative  to  that  of  the  commodities  for 
which  they  are  exchanged.  But,  if  this  be  the  true  cause  of  the 
reduction  of  price,  its  operation  ought  to  have  been  general,  on 
all  objects,  and  of  course,  upon  cotton  among  the  rest.  And,  in 
point  of  fact,  the  diminished  price  of  that  staple  is  not  greater 
than  the  diminution  of  the  value  of  other  staples  of  our  agricul 
ture.  Flour,  which  commanded,  some  years  ago,  ten  or  twelve 
dollars  per  barrel,  is  now  sold  for  five.  The  fall  of  tobacco  has 
been  still  more.  The  kite  foot  of  Maryland,  which  sold  at  from 
sixteen  to  twenty  dollars  per  hundred,  now  produces  only  four  or 
five.  That  of  Virginia  has  sustained  an  equal  decline.  Beefj 
pork,  every  article,  almost,  produced  by  the  farmer,  has  decreas 
ed  in  value.  Ought  not  South  Carolina  then  to  submit  quietly 
to  a  state  of  things,  which  is  general,  and  proceeds  from  an  un- 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  187 

controlable  canso  ?  Ought  she  to  ascribe  to  the  "  accursed"  ta 
riff  what  results  from  the  calamities  of  civil  and  foreign  war,  ra 
ging  in  many  countries? 

But,  sir,  I  do  not  subscribe  to  this  doctrine  implicitly.  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  diminished  production  of  the  precious  metals,  if 
that  be  the  fact,  satisfactorily  accounts  for  the  fall  in  prices :  For 
I  think  that  the  augmentation  of  the  currency  of  the  world,  by 
means  of  banks,  public  stocks  and  other  facilities  arising  out  of 
exchange  and  credit,  has  more  than  supplied  any  deficiency  in 
the  amount  of  the  precious  metals. 

It  is  further  urged  that  the  restoration  of  peace  in  Europe,  af 
ter  the  battle  ^of  Waterloo,  and  the  consequent  return  to  peace 
ful  pursuits  of  large  masses  oi'its  population,  by  greatly  increas 
ing  the  aggregate  amount  of  effective  labor,  had  a  tendency  to 
lower  prices  ;  and  undoubtedly  such  ought,  to  have  been  its  natu 
ral  tendency.  The  same  cause,  however,  must  also  have  opera 
ted  to  reduce  the  price  of  our  agricultural  produce,  for  which 
there  was  no  longer  the  same  demand  in  peace  as  in  war— and 
it  did  so  operate.  But  its  influence  on  the  price  of  manufactured 
articles,  between  the  general  peace  of  Europe  in  1815,  and  the 
adoption  of  our  tariff  in  1824,  was  less  sensibly  felt,  because, 
perhaps,  a  much  larger  portion  of  the  labor,  liberated  by  the  dis- 
baridment  of  armies,  was  absorbed  by  manufactures  than  by  ag 
riculture.  It  is  also  contended  that  the  invention  and  improve 
ment  of  labor  saving  machinery  have  tended  to  lessen  the  prices 
of  manufactured  objects  of  consumption  ;  and  undoubtedly  this 
cause  has  had  some  effect.  Ought  not  America  to  contribute  her 
quota  of  this  cause,  and  has  she  not,  by  her  skill  and  extraordi 
nary  adaptation  to  the  arts,  in  truth,  largely  contributed  to  it? 

This  brings  me  to  consider  what  I  apprehend  to  have  been  the 
most  efficient  of  all  the  causes  in  the  reduction  of  the  prices  of 
manufactured  articles — and  that  is,  COMPETITION.  By  competi 
tion,  the  total  amount  of  the  supply  is  increased,  and  by  increase 
of  the  supply,  a  competition  in  the  sale  ensues,  and  this  enables 
the  consumer  to  buy  at  lower  rates.  Of  all  human  powers  ope 
rating  on  the  affairs  of  mankind,  none  is  greater  than  that  of 
competition.  It  is  action  arid  re-action.  It  operates  between  in 
dividuals  in  the  same  nation,  and  between  different  nations.  It 
resembles  the  meeting  of  the  mountain  torrent,  grooving,  by  its 
precipitous  motion,  its  own  channel,  and  ocean's  tide.  Unop 
posed,  it  sweeps  every  thing  before  it;  but.  counterpoised,  the 
waters  become  calm,  safe  and  regular.  It  'is  like  the  segments 
of  a  circle  or  an  arch  ;  taken  separately,  each  is  nothing ;  but,  in 
their  combination,  they  produce  efficiency,  symmetry,  Tind  per 
fection.  By  the  American  system  this  vast  power  has  been  ex 
cited  in  America,  and  brought  into  being  to  act  in  co-operation 
or  collision  with  European  industry.  Europe  acts  within  itself, 
and  with  America ;  and  America  acts  within  itself,  and  with  Eu 
rope.  The  consequence  is,  the  reduction  of  prices  in  both  hem 
ispheres.  Nor  is  it  fair  to  argue,  from  the  reduction  of  prices  in 


188  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

Europe,  to  her  own  presumed  skill  and  labor,  exclusively.  We 
affect  her  prices,  and  she  affects  ours.  This  must  always  be  the 
case,  at  least  in  reference  to  any  articles  as  to  which  there  is  not 
a  total  non-intercourse;  and  if  our  industry,  by  diminishing  the 
demand  for  her  supplies,  should  produce  a  diminution  in  the  price 
of  those  supplies,  it  would  be  very  unfair  to  ascribe  that  reduc 
tion  to  her  ingenuity,  instead  of  placing  it  to  the  credit  of  our 
own  skill  and  excited  industry. 

Practical  men  understand  very  well  this  state  of  the  case, 
whether  they  do  or  do  not  comprehend  the  causes  which  produce 
it  I  have  in  my  possession  a  letter  from  a  respectable  merchant, 
well  known  to  me.  in  which  he  says,  after  complaining  of  the  op 
eration  of  the  tariff  of  1828,  on  the  articles  to  which  it  applies, 
some  of  which  he  had  imported,  and  that,  his  purchases  having 
been  made  in  England,  before  the  passage  of  that  tariff  was 
known,  it  produced  such  an  effect  upon  the  English  market,  that 
the  articles  could  not  be  re-sold  without  loss,  he  adds :  "for  it  re 
ally  appears  that  when  additional  duties  are  laid  upon  an  arti 
cle,  it  then  becomes  loicer  instead  of  higher"  This  would  not 
probably  happen,  where  the  supply  of  the  foreign  article  did  not 
exceed  the  home  demand,  unless,  upon  the  supposition  of  the  in 
creased  duty  having  excited  or  stimulated  the  measure  of  the 
home  production. 

The  great  law  of  price  is  determined  by  supply  and  demand. 
Whatever  affects  either,  affects  the  price.  If  the  supply  is  in 
creased,  the  demand  remaining  the  same,  the  price  declines;  if 
the  demand  is  increased,  the  supply  remaining  the  same,  the 
price  advances ;  if  both  supply  and  demand  are  undiminished, 
the  price  is  stationary,  and  the  price  is  influenced  exactly  in  pro 
portion  to  the  degree  of  disturbance  to  the  demand  or  supply.  It 
is  therefore  a  great  error  to  suppose  that  an  existing  or  new  duty 
necessarily  becomes  a  component  element,  to  its  exact  amount, 
of  price,  "if  the  proportions  of  demand  and  supply  are  varied  by 
the  duty,  either  in  augmenting  the  supply,  or  diminishing  the  de- 
'mand.  or  vice  versa,  price  is  affected,  to  the  extent  of  that  varia 
tion.  '  But  the  duty  never  becomes  an  integral  part  of  the  price, 
except  in  the  instances  where  the  demand  and  the  supply  remain, 
after  the  duty  is  imposed,  precisely  what  they  were  before,  or  the 
demand  is  increased,  and  the  supply  remains  stationary. 

Competition,  therefore,  wherever  existing,  whether  at  home  or 
abroad,  is  the  parent  cause  of  cheapness.  If  a  high  duty  excites 
production  at  home,  and  the  quantity  of  the  domestic  article  ex 
ceeds  the  amount  which  had  been  previously  imported,  the  price 
will  fall.  This  accounts  for  an  extraordinary  fact  stated  by  a 
senator  from  Missouri.  Three  cents  were  laid  as  a  duty  upon  a 
pound  of  lead,  by  the  act  of  1828.  The  price  at  Galena,  and  the 
other  lead  mines,  afterwards  fell  to  one  and  a  half  cents  per 
pound.  Now  it  is  obvious  that  the  duty  did  not,  in  this  case,  en 
ter  into  the  price :  for  it  was  twice  the  amount  of  the  price.  What 
produced  the  fall?  It  was  stimulated  production  at  home,  exci- 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  139 

ted  by  the  temptation  of  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  home 
market.  This  state  of  things  could  not  last.  Men  would  not 
continue  an  unprofitable  pursuit;  some  abandoned  the  business, 
or  the  total  quantity  produced  was  diminished,  and  living  prices 
have  been  the  consequence.  But,  break  down,  the  domestic  sup 
ply,  place  us  again  in  a  state  of  dependence  on  the  foreign  source, 
and  can  it  be  doubted  that  we  should  ultimately  have  to  supply 
ourselves  at  dearer  rates  ?  It  is  not  fair  to  credit  the  foreign 
market  with  the  depression  of  prices  produced  there  by  the  in 
fluence  of  our  competition.  Let  the  competition  be  withdrawn, 
and  their  prices  would  instantly  rise.  On  this  subject,  great  mis 
takes  are  committed.  I  have  seen  some  most  erroneous  reason 
ing  in  a  late  report  of  Mr.  Lee,  of  the  free  trade  convention,  in 
regard  to  the  article  of  sugar.  He  calculates  the  total  amount 
of  brown  sugar  produced  in  the  world,  and  then  states  that  what 
is  made  in  Louisiana  is  not  more  than  two  and  a  half  per  cent, 
of  that  total.  Although  his  data  may  be  questioned,  let  us  as 
sume  their  truth,  and  what  might  be" the  result?  Price  being 
determined  by  the  proportions  of  supply  and  demand,  it  is  evi 
dent  that  when  the  supply  exceeds  the  demand,  the  price  will 
fall.  And  the  fall  is  not  always  regulated  by  the  amount  of  that 
excess.  If  the  market  at.  a  given  price,  required  five  or  fifty  mil 
lions  of  hogsheads  of  sugar,  a  surplus  of  only  a  few  hundred 
might  materially  influence  the  price,  and  diffuse  itself  through 
out  the  whole  mass.  Add,  therefore,  the  eighty  or  one  hundred 
thousand  hogsheads  of  Louisiana  sugar  to  the  entire  mass  pro 
duced  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
a  material  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  article,  throughout  Europe 
and  America,  would  take  place.  The  Louisiana  sugar  substitu 
ting  foreign  sugar,  in  the  home  market,  to  the  amount  of  its  an 
nual  produce,  would  force  an  equal  amount  of  foreign  sugar  into 
other  markets,  which  being  glutted,  the  price  would  necessarily 
decline,  and  this  decline  of  price  would  press  portions  of  the  for 
eign  sugar  into  competition,  in  the  United  States,  with  Louisiana 
sugar,  the  price  of  which  would  also  be  brought  down.  The  fact 
has  been  in  exact  conformity  with  this  theory.  But  now  let  us 
suppose  the  Louisiana  sugar  to  be  entirely  withdrawn  from  the 
general  consumption — what  then  would  happen?  A  new  de 
mand  would  be  created  in  America  for  foreign  sugar  to  the  ex 
tent  of  the  eighty  or  one  hundred  thousand  hogsheads  made  in 
Louisiana;  a  less  amount,  by  that  quantity,  would  be  sent  to  the 
European  markets,  and  the  price  would  consequently  every 
where  rise.  It  is  not,  therefore,  those  who,  by  keeping  on  duties, 
keep  down  prices,  that  tax  the  people,  but  those  who,  by  repeal 
ing  duties,  would  raise  prices,  that  really  impose  burthens  upon 
the  people. 

_  But  it  is  argued  that,  if,  by  the  skill,  experience,  and  perfec 
tion  which  we  have  acquired,  in  certain  branches  of  manufac 
ture,  they  can  be  made  as  cheap  as  similar  articles  abroad,  and 
enter  fairly  into  competition  with  them,  why  not  repeal  tlw 


100  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

duties  as  to  those  articles  ?  And  why  should  we  ?  Assuming 
the  truth  of  the  supposition  the  foreign  article  would  not  be  in 
troduced  in  the  regular  course  of  trade,  but  would  remain  ex 
cluded  by  the  possession  of  the  home  market,  which  the  domes 
tic  article  had  obtained.  The  repeal,  therefore,  would  have  no 
legitimate  effect.  But  might  not  the  foreign  article  be  imported 
in  vast  quantities,  to  glut  our  markets,  break  down  our  establish 
ments,  and  ultimately,  to  enable  the  foreigner  to  monopolize  the 
supply  of  our  consumption?  America  is  the  greatest  foreign 
market  for  European  manufactures.  It  is  that  to  which  Euro 
pean  attention  is  constantly  directed.  If  a  great  house  becomes 
bankrupt  there,  its  store  houses  are  emptied,  and  the  goods  are 
shipped  to  America,  where,  in  consequence  of  our  auctions,  and 
our  custom-house  credits,  the  greatest  facilities  are  afforded  in 
the  sale  of  them.  Combinations  among  manufacturers  might 
take  place,  or  even  the  operations  of  foreign  governments  might 
be  directed  to  the  destruction  of  our  establishments.  A  repeal, 
therefore  of  one  protecting  duty,  from  some  one  or  all  of  these 
causes,  would  be  followed  by  flooding  the  country  with  the 
foreign  fabric,  surcharging  the  market,  reducing  the  price,  and 
a  complete  prostration  of  our  manufactories;  after  which  the 
foreigner  would  leisurely  look  about  to  indemnify  himself  in  the 
increased  prices  which  he  would  be  enabled  to  command  by  his 
monopoly  of  the  supply  of  our  consumption.  What  American 
citizen,  after  the  government  had  displayed  this  vacillating 
policy,  would  be  again  tempted  to  place  the  smallest  confidence 
in  the  public  faith,  and  adventure  once  more  in  this  branch  of 
industry? 

Gentlemen  have  allowed  to  the  manufacturing  portions  of  the 
community  no  peace ;  they  have  been  constantly  threatened 
with  the  overthrow  of  the  American  system.  From  the  year 
1820,  if  not  from  IS  16,  down  to  this  time,  they  have  been  held  in 
a  condition  of  constant  alarm  and  insecurity.  Nothing  is  more 
prejudical  to  the  great  interests  of  a  nation  than  unsettled  and 
varying  policy.  Although  every  appeal  to  the  national  legisla 
ture  has  been  responded  to  in  conformity  with  the  wishes  and 
sentiments  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people,  measures  of  pro 
tection  have  only  "been  carried  by  such  small  majorities,  as  to 
excite  hopes,  on  the  one  hand  and  fears  on  the  other.  Let  the 
country  breathe,  let  its  vast  resources  be  developed,  let  its  ener 
gies  be  fully  put  forth,  let  it  have  tranquillity,  and,  my  word  for 
it,  the  degree  of  perfection  in  the  arts  which  it  will  exhibit,  will 
be  greater  than  that  which  has  been  presented,  astonishing  as 
our  progress  has  been.  Although  some  branches  of  our  man 
ufactures  might,  and,  in  foreign  markets,  now  do,  fearlessly  con 
tend  with  similar  foreign  fabrics,  there  are  many  others,  yet  in 
their  infancy,  struggling  with  the  difficulties  which  encompass 
them.  We  should  look  at  the  whole  system,  and  recollect  that 
time,  when  we  contemplate  the  great  movements  of  a  nation,  is 
very  different  from  the  short  period  which  is  allotted  for  the  du- 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  191 

ration  of  individual  life.  The  honorable  gentleman  from  South 
Carolina  well  and  eloquently  said,  in  1824,  "No  great  interest 
of  any  country  ever  yet  grew  up  in  a  day ;  no  new  branch  of  in 
dustry  can  become  firmly  and  profitably  established,  but  in  a 
long  course  of  years  ;  every  thing,  indeed,  great  or  good,  is  ma 
tured  by  slow  degrees :  that  which  attains  a  speedy  maturity  is 
of  small  value,  and  is  destined  to  a  brief  existence.  It  is  the 
order  of  Providence,  that  powers  gradually  developed,  shall 
alone  attain  permanency  and  perfection.  Thus  must  it  be  with 
our  national  institutions  and  national  character  itself." 

I  feel  most  sensibly,  Mr.  President,  how  much  I  have  trespass 
ed  upon  the  senate.  My  apology  is  a  deep  and  deliberate  con 
viction,  that  the  great  cause  under  debate  involves  the  prosperity 
arid  the  destiny  of  the  Union.  But  the  best  requital  I  can  make, 
for  the  friendly  indulgence  which  has  been  extended  to  me  by 
the  senate,  and  for  which  I  shall  ever  retain  sentiments  of  lasting 
gratitude,  is.  to  proceed,  with  as  little  delay  as  practicable,  to  the 
conclusion,  of  a  discourse  which  has  not  been  more  tedious  to  the 
senate,  than  exhausting  to  me.  I  have  now  to  consider  the  re 
maining  of  the  two  proposititioris  which  I  have  already  an 
nounced.  That  is : 

2dly.  That  under  the  operation  of  the  American  system,  the 
products  of  our  agriculture  command  a  higher  price  than  they 
would  do  without  it,  by  the  creation  of  a  home  market ;  and  by 
the  augmentation  of  wealth  produced  by  manufacturing  indus 
try,  which  enlarges  our  powers  of  consumption  both  of  domestic 
and  foreign  articles.  The  importance  of  the  home  market  is 
among  the  established  maxims  which  are  universally  recognised 
by  all  writers  and  all  men.  However  some  may  differ  aslo  the 
relative  advantages  of  the  foreign  and  the  home  market  none  deny 
to  the  latter  great  value  and  high  consideration.  It  is  nearer  to 
us ;  beyond  the  control  of  foreign  legislation ;  and  undisturbed 
by  those  vicissitudes  to  which  all  inter-natiorial  intercourse  is 
more  or  less  exposed.  The  most  stupid  are  sensible  of  the  ben 
efit  of  a  residence  in  the  vicinity  of  a  large  manufactory,  or  of  a 
market  town,  of  a  good  road,  or  of  a  navigable  stream,  which 
connects  their  farms  with  some  great  capital.  If  the  pursuits  of 
all  men  were  perfectly  the  same,  although  they  would  be  in  pos 
session  of  the  greatest  abundance  of  the  particular  produce  of 
their  industry,  they  might,  at  the  same  time,  be  in  extreme  want 
of  other  necessary  articles  of  human  subsistence.  The  uniformi 
ty  of  the  general  occupation  would  preclude  all  exchanges,  all 
commerce.  It  is  only  in  the  diversity  of  the  vocations  of  the 
members  of  a  community  that  the  means  can  be  found  for  those 
salutary  exchanges  which  conduce  to  the  general  prosperity. 
And  the  greater  that  diversity  the  more  extensive  and  the  more 
animating  is  the  circle  of  exchange.  Even  if  foreign  markets 
were  freely  and  widely  open  to  the  reception  of  our  agricultural 
wroduce,  from  its  bulky  nature,  and  the  distance  of  the  interior, 
and  the  dangers  of  the  ocean,  large  portions  of  it  could  never 


192  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

profitably  reach  the  foreign  market.  But  let  us  quit  this  field 
of  theory,  clear  as  it  is,  and  look  at  the  practical  operation  of 
the  system  of  protection,  beginning  with  the  most  valuable  staple 
of  our  agriculture. 

In  considering  this  staple,  the  first  circumstance  that  excites  our 
surprise  is  the  rapidity  with  which  the  amount  of  it  has  annually 
increased.  Does  not  this  fact  however,  demonstrate  that  the 
cultivation  of  it  could  not  have  been  so  very  unprofitable  !  If 
the  business  were  ruinous,  would  more  and  more  have  annually 
engaged  in  it?  The  quantity  in  1S16  was  eighty-one  millions 
of  pounds;  in  1826  two  hundred  and  four  millions;  and  in  1830, 
near  three  hundred  millions  !  The  ground  of  greatest  surprise 
is,  that  it  has  been  able  to  sustain  even  its  present  price  with 
such  an  enormous  augmentation  of  quantity.  It  could  not  have 
been  done  but  for  the  combined  operation  of  three  causes,  by 
which  the  consumption  of  cotton  fabrics  has  been  greatly  extend 
ed,  in  consequence  of  their  reduced  prices:  1st.  competition; 
2d,  the  improvement  of  labor-saving  machinery ;  and  3dly,  the 
low  price  of  the  raw  material.  The  crop  of  1819.  amounting  to 
eighty-eight  millions  of  pounds,  produced  twenty-one  millions 
of  dollars;  the  crop  of  1823.  when  the  amount  was  swelled  to 
one  hundred  and  seventy-four  millions,  (almost  double  that  of 
1819,)  produced  a  less  sum  by  more  than  half  a  million  of  dol 
lars  ;  and  the  crop  of  1824,  amounting  to  thirty  millions  of 
pounds  less  than  that  of  the  preceding  year,  produced  a  million 
and  a  half  of  dollars  more. 

If  there  be  any  foundation  for  the  established  law  of  price, 
supply,  and  demand,  ought  not  the  fact  of  this  great  increase  of 
the  supply,  to  account,  satisfactorily,  for  the  alledged  low  price 
of  cotton  ?  Is  it  necessary  to  look  beyond  that  single  fact  to  the 
tariff— to  the  diminished  price  of  the  mines  furnishing  the  pre 
cious  metals,  or  to  any  other  cause,  for  the  solution  ?  This  sub 
ject  is  well  understood  in  the  south,  and  although  I  cannot  ap 
prove  the  practice  which  has  been  introduced  of  quoting  authori 
ty,  and  still  less  the  authority  of  newspapers,  for  favorite  theories, 
I  must  ask  permission  of  the  senate  to  read  an  article  from  a 
southern  newspaper.  [Here  General  Hayne  requested  Mr.  Clay 
to  give  the  name  of  the  authority,  that  it  might  appear  whether 
it  was  not  some  other  than  a  southern  paper  expressing  southern 
sentiments.  Mr.  Clay  stated  that  it  was  from  the  Charleston 
City  Gazette,  one,  he  believed,  of  the  oldest  and  most  respec 
table  prints  in  that  city,  although  he  was  not  sure  what  might  be 
its  sentiments  on  the  question  which  at  present  divides  the  peo 
ple  of  South  Carolina.]  The  article  comprises  a  full  explana 
tion  of  the  low  price  of  cotton,  and  assigns  to  it  its  true  cause — 
increased  production. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  home  demand  for  cotton,  which  has 
"been  created  by  the  American  system,  were  to  cease,  and  that 
the  200,000*  bales,  which  the  home  market  now  absorbs,  were 

*  Mr.  Clay  stated  that  he  assumed  the  quantity  which  was  generally  computed. 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  193 

thrown  into  the  glutted  markets  of  foreign  countries — would  not 
the  effect  inevitably  be  to  produce  a  further  and  great  reduction 
in  the  price  of  the  article?  If  there  be  any  truth  in  the  facts 
and  principles  which  I  have  before  stated  and  endeavored  to 
illustrate,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  existence  of  American 
manufactures  has  tended  to  increase  the  demand,  and  extend 
the  consumption  of  the  raw  material;  and  that,  but  for  this  in 
creased  demand,  the  price  of  the  article  would  have  fallen,  pos 
sibly  one-half  lower  than  it  now  is.  The  error  of  the  opposite 
argument  is,  in  assuming  one  thing,  which,  being  denied,  the 
whole  fails;  that  is,  it  assumes  that  the  whole  labor  of  the  United 
States  would  be  profitably  employed  without  manufactures. — 
Now,  the  truth  is,  that  the  system  excites  and  creates  labor,  and 
this  labor  creates  wealth,  and  this  new  wealth  communicates 
additional  ability  to  consume,  which  acts  on  all  the  objects  con 
tributing  to  human  comfort  and  enjoyment.  The  amount  of 
cotton  imported  into  the  two  ports  of  Boston  and  Providence 
alone  during  the  last  year,  (and  it  was  imported  exclusively  for 
the  home  manufacture,)  was  109,517  bales. 

On  passing  from  that  article  to  others  of  our  agricultural  pro 
ductions,  we  shall  find  not  less  gratifying  facts.  The  total  quan 
tity  of  flour  imported  into  Boston,  during  the  same  year,  was 
284,504  barrels,  and  3,955  half  barrels;  of  which,  there  were 
from  Virginia,  Georgetown  and  Alexandria,  114,222  barrels;  of 
Indian  corn,  681,131  bushels;  of  oats,  239,809  bushels;  of  rye, 
about  50,000  bushels ;  and  of  shorts,  33,489  bushels.  Into  the 
port  of  Providence,  71,369  barrels  of  flour;  216,662  bushels  of 
Indian  corn,  and  7,772  bushels  of  rye.  And  there  were  dis 
charged  at  the  port  of  Philadelphia  420,353  bushels  of  Indian 
corn;  201,878  bushels  of  wheat  and  110,557  bushels  of  rye  and 
barley.  There  were  slaughtered  in  Boston,  during  the  same 
year,  1831,  (the  only  northern  city  from  which  I  have  obtained 
returns,)  33,922  beef  cattle;  15,400  stores;  84,453  sheep,  and 
26,871  swine.  It  is  confidently  believed  that  there  is  not  a  less 
quantity  of  southern  flour  consumed  at  the  north  than  800,000 
barrels — a  greater  amount,  probably,  than  is  shipped  to  all  the 
foreign  markets  of  the  world  together. 

What  would  be  the  condition  of  the  farming  country  of  the 
United  States — of  all  that  portion  which  lies  north,  east  and  west 
of  James  river,  including  a  large  part  of  North  Carolina,  if  a 
home  market  did  not  exist  for  this  immense  amount  of  agricul 
tural  produce?  Without  that  market,  where  could  it  be  sold? 

but  he  believed  it  much  greater,  and  subsequent  information  justifies  his  belief,  ft 
appears  from  the  report  of  the  cotton  committee  appointed  by  the  New-York  Con 
vention,  that  partial  returns  show  a  consumption  of  upwards  of  250,000  bales;  that 
the  cotton  manufacture  employs  nearly  40,000  females,  and  about  5,000  children;  that 
the  total  dependents  on  it  are  131,489;  that  the  annual  wages  paid  are  012,155,723; 
the  annual  value  of  its  products  $32,306,076;  the  capital  $44,91 4,984;  the  number 
of  mills,  795;  of  spindles,  1,246,503;  and  of  cloth  made,  260,461,990  yard*.  Tbii 
statement  does  not  comprehend  the  western  manufactures. 

17 


194  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

In  foreign  markets?  If  their  restrictive  laws  did  not  exist,  their 
capacity  would  not  enable  them  to  purchase  and  consume  this 
vast  addition  to  their  present  supplies,  which  must  be  thrown 
in,  or  thrown  away,  but  for  the  home  market.  But  their  laws 
exclude  us  from  their  markets.  I  shall  content  myself  by  calling 
the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  Great  Britain  only.  The  duties 
in  the  ports  of  the  United  Kingdom,  on  bread  stuffs,  are  pro 
hibitory,  except  in  times  of  dearth.  On  rice,  the  duty  is  fifteen 
shillings  sterling  per  hundred  weight,  being  more  than  one  hun 
dred  per  cent.  On  manufactured  tobacco,  it  is  nine  shillings 
sterling  per  pound,  or  about  two  thousand  per  cent.  On  leaf 
tobacco  three  shillings  per  pound,  or  one  thousand  two  hundred 
per  cent.  On  lumber,  and  some  other  articles,  they  are  from  400 
to  1.500  per  cent,  more  than  on  similar  articles  imported  from 
British  colonies.  In  the  British  West  Indies,  the  duty  on  beef,  pork, 
hams  and  bacon  is  twelve  shillings  sterling  per  hundred,  more 
than  one  hundred  per  cent,  on  the  first  cost  of  beef  and  pork  in 
the  western  States.  And  yet  Great  Britain  is  the  power  in 
whose  behalf  we  are  called  upon  to  legislate  so  that  we  may 
enable  her  to  purchase  our  cotton !  Great  Britain,  that  thinks 
only  of  herself  in  her  own  legislation!  When  have  we  expe 
rienced  justice,  much  less  favor,  at  her  hands?  When  did  she 
shape  her  legislation  in  reference  to  the  interests  of  any  foreign 
power?  She  is  a  great,  opulent  and  powerful  nation;  but 
haughty,  arrogant,  and  supercilious — not  more  separated  from 
the  rest  of  the  world  by  the  sea  that  girts  her  island,  than  she  is 
separated  in  feeling,  sympathy,  or  friendly  consideration  of  their 
welfare.  Gentlemen,  in  supposing  it  impracticable  that  we  should 
successfully  compete  with  her  in  manufactures,  do  injustice  to 
the  skill  and  enterprize  of  their  own  country.  Gallant,  as  Great 
Britain  undoubtedly  is,  we  have  gloriously  contended  with  her, 
man  to  man,  gun  to  gun,  ship  to  ship,  fleet  to  fleet,  and  army  to 
army.  And  I  have  no  doubt  we  are  destined  to  achieve  equal 
success  in  the  more  useful,  if  not  nobler  contest  for  superiority 
in  the  arts  of  civil  life. 

I  could  extend  and  dwell  on  the  long  list  of  articles — the  hemp. 
iron,  lead,  coal,  and  other  items,  for  which  a  demand  is  created 
in  the  home  market  by  the  operation  of  the  American  system ; 
but  I  should  exhaust  the  patience  of  the  Senate.  Where,  where 
should  we  find  a  market  for  all  these  articles,  if  it  did  not  exist 
at  home?  What  would  be  the  condition  of  the  largest  portion 
of  our  people,  and  of  the  territory,  if  this  home  market  were 
annihilated?  How  could  tkey  be  supplied  with  objects  of  prime 
necessity?  What  would  not  be  the  certain  and  inevitable  decline 
in  the  price  of  all  these  articles,  but  for  the  home  market?  And 
allow  me,  Mr.  President,  to  say,  that,  of  all  the  agricultural 
parts  of  the  United  States  which  are  benefitted  by  the  operation 
of  this  system,  none  are  equally  so  with  those  which  border  th« 
Chesapeake  bay,  the  lower  parts  of  North  Carolina,  Virginia, 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  195 

and  the  two  shores  of  Maryland.  Their  facilities  of  transporta 
tion,  and  proximity  to  the  north,  give  them  decided  advantages. 

But,  if  all  this  reasoning  were  totally  fallacious — if  the  price 
of  manufactured  articles  were  really  higher,  under  the  American 
system,  than  without  it,  1  should  still  argue  that  high  or  low 
prices  were  themselves  relative — relative  to  the  ability  to  pay 
them.  It  is  in  vain  to  tempt,  to  tantalize  us  with  the  lower  pri 
ces  of  European  fabrics  than  our  own,  if  we  have  nothing 
wherewith  to  purchase  them.  If,  by  the  home  exchanges,  we 
can  be  supplied  with  necessary,  even  if  they  are  dearer  and 
worse,  articles  of  American  production  than  the  foreign,  it  i» 
better  than  not  to  be  supplied  at  all.  And  how  would  the  large 
portion  of  our  country  which  I  have  described  be  supplied,  but 
tor  the  home  exchanges?  A  poor  people,  destitute  of  wealth  or 
of  exchangeable  commodities,  has  nothing  to  purchase  foreign 
fabrics.  To  them  they  are  equally  beyond  their  reach,  whether 
their  cost  be  a  dollar  or  a  guinea.  It  is  in  this  view  of  the 
matter  that  Great  Britain,  by  her  vast  wealth — her  excited  and 
protected  industry — is  enabled  to  bear  a  burthen  of  taxation 
which,  when  compared  to  that  of  other  nations,  appears  enor 
mous;  but  which,  when  her  immense  riches  are  compared  to 
theirs,  is  light  and  trivial.  The  gentleman  from  South  Caroli-r 
na  has  drawn  a  lively  and  flattering  picture  of  our  coasts,  bays, 
rivers  and  harbors ;  and  he  argues  that  these  proclaimed  the 
design  of  Providence,  that  we  should  be  a  commercial  people. 
I  agree  with  him.  We  difler  only  as  to  the  means.  He  would 
cherish  the  foreign,  and  neglect  the  internal  trade.  I  would  fos 
ter  both.  What  is  navigation  without  ships,  or  ships  without 
cargoes?  By  penetrating  the  bosoms  of  our  mountains,  and 
extracting  from  them  their  precious  treasures ;  by  cultivating 
the  earth,  and  securing  a  home  market  for  its  rich  and  abundant 
products ;  by  employing  the  water  power  with  which  we  are 
blessed;  by  stimulating  and  protecting  our  native  industry,  in 
all  its  forms ;  we  shall  but  nourish  and  promote  the  prosperity 
of  commerce,  foreign  and  domestic. 

I  have  hitherto  considered  the  question  in  reference  only  to  a 
state  of  peace ;  but  a  season  of  war  ought  not  to  be  entirely 
overlooked.  We  have  enjoyed  near  twenty  years  of  peace ;  but 
who  can  tell  when  the  storm  of  war  shall  again  break  forth? 
Have  we  forgotten,  so  soon,  the  privations  to  which,  not  merely 
our  brave  soldiers  and  our  gallant  tars  wrere  subjected,  but  the 
whole  community,  during  the  last  war,  for  the  want  of  absolute 
necessaries?  To  what  an  enormous  price  they  rose!  And  how 
inadequate  the  supply  was,  at  any  price!  The  statesman,  who 
justly  elevates  his  views,  will  look  behind,  as  well  as  forward, 
and  at  the  existing  state  of  things ;  and  he  will  graduate  the 
policy,  which  he  recommends,  to  all  the  probable  exigencies 
which  may  arise  in  the  republic.  Taking  this  comprehensive 
range,  it  would  be  easy  to  show  that  the  higher  prices  of  peace, 
if  prices  were  higher  in  peace,  were  more  than  compensated  by 


196  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

the  lower  prices  of  war,  during  which  supplies  of  all  essential 
articles  are  indispensable  to  its  vigorous,  effectual  and  glorious 
prosecution.  I  conclude  this  part  of  the  argument  with  the  hope 
that  my  humble  exertions  have  not  been  altogether  unsuccessful 
in  showing — 

1.  That  the  policy  which  we  have  been  considering  ought  to 
continue  to  be  regarded  as  the  genuine  American  system. 

2.  That  the  free  trade  system,  which  is  proposed  as  its  sub 
stitute,  ought  really  to  be  considered  as   the  British  colonial 
system. 

3.  That  the  American  system  is  beneficial  to  all  parts  of  the 
Union,  and  absolutely  necessary  to  much  the  larger  portion. 

4.  That  the  price  of  the  great  staple  of  cotton,  and  of  all  our 
chief  productions  of  agriculture,  has  been  sustained  and  upheld, 
and  a  decline  averted  by  the  protective  system. 

5.  That,   if  tbe  foreign  demand  for  cotton  has  been  at   all 
diminished  by  the  operation  of  that  system,  the  diminution  has 
been  more  than  compensated  in  the  additional  demand  created 
at  home. 

6.  That  the  constant  tendency  of  the  system,  by  creating  com 
petition  among  ourselves,  and  between  American  and  European 
industry,  reciprocally  acting  upon  each  other,  is  to  reduce  prices 
of  manufactured  objects. 

7.  That,  in  point  of  fact,  objects  within  the  scope  of  the  policy 
of  protection  have  greatly  fallen  in  price. 

8.  That  if,  in  a  season  of  peace,  these  benefits  are  experi 
enced,  in  a  season  of  war,  when  the  foreign  supply  might  be 
cut  off,  they  would  be  much  more  extensively  felt. 

9.  And,  finally,  that  the  substitution  of  the  British  colonial 
system  for  the  American  system,  without  benefiting  any  section 
of  the  Union,  by  subjecting  us  to  a  foreign  legislation,  regulated 
by  foreign  interests,  would  lead  to  the  prostration  of  our  manu 
factures,  general  impoverishment,  and  ultimate  ruin. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  I  have  to  make  a  few  observations 
on  a  delicate  subject,  which  I  approach  with  all  the  respect  that 
is  due  to  its  serious  and  grave  nature.  They  have  not,  indeed, 
been  rendered  necessary  by  the  speech  of  the  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina,  whose  forbearance  to  notice  the  topic  was 
commendable,  as  his  argument,  throughout,  was  characterized 
by  an  ability  and  dignity  worthy  of  him,  and  of  the  Senate. 
The  gentleman  made  one  declaration,  which  might  possibly  be 
misinterpreted,  and  I  submit  to  him  whether  an  explanation  of  it 
be  not  proper.  The  declaration,  as  reported  in  his  printed  speech, 
is,  "the  instinct  of  self  interest  might  have  taught  us  an  easier 
way  of  relieving  ourselves  from  this  oppression.  It  wanted  but 
the  will  to  have  supplied  ourselves  with  every  article  embraced 
in  the  protective  system,  free  of  duty,  without  any  other  partici 
pation  on  our  part  than  a  simple  consent  to  receive  them." — 
[Here  Gen.  Hayne  rose  and  remarkedj  that  the  passages  which 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  197 

immediately  preceded  and  followed  the  paragraph  cited,  he 
thought,  plainly  indicated  his  meaning,  which  related  to  evasions 
of  the  system,  by  illicit  introduction  of  goods,  which  they  were 
not  disposed  to  countenance  in  Souih  Carolina.]  I  am  happy  to 
hear  this  explanation.  But,  sir,  it  is  impossible  to  conceal  from 
our  view  the  facts  that  there  is  a  great  excitement  in  South 
Carolina ;  that  the  protective  system  is  openly  and  violently 
denounced  in  popular  meetings ;  and  that  the  Legislature  itself 
has  declared  its  purpose  of  resorting  to  counteracting  measures— 
a  suspension  of  which  has  only  been  submitted  to,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  allowing  Congress  time  to  retrace  its  steps.  With  re 
spect  to  this  Union,  Mr.  President,  the  truth  cannot  be  too  gene 
rally  proclaimed,  nor  too  strongly  inculcated,  that  it  is  necessary 
to  the  whole  and  to  all  the  parts — necessary  to  those  parts,  in 
deed,  in  different  degrees,  but  vitally  necessary  to  each— and 
that  threats  to  disturb  or  dissolve  it,  coming  from  any  of  the 
parts,  would  be  quite  as  indiscreet  and  improper  as  would  be 
threats  from  the  residue  to  exclude  those  parts  from  the  pale  of 
its  benefits.  The  great  principle,  which  lies  at  the  foundation 
of  all  free  governments,  is,  that  the  majority  must  govern;  from 
which  there  is  or  can  be  no  appeal  but  to  the  sword.  That 
majority  ought  to  govern  wisely,  equitably,  moderately  and  con 
stitutionally,  but  govern  it  must,  subject  only  to  that  terrible 
appeal.  If  ever  one,  or  several  States,  being  a  minority,  can, 
by  menacing  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  succeed  in  forcing  an 
abandonment  of  great  measures  deemed  essential  to  the  interests 
and  prosperity  of  the  whole,  the  Union,  from  that  moment,  is 
practically  gone.  It  may  linger  on,  in  form  and  name,  but 
its  vital  spirit  has  fled  forever!  Entertaining  these  deliberate 
opinions,  I  would  entreat  the  patriotic  people  of  South  Carolina — 
the  land  of  Marion,  Sumpter  and  Pickens — of  Rutledge,  Lau- 
rens,  the  Pinckneys  and  Lowndes — of  living  and  present  names, 
which  I  would  mention  if  they  were  not  living  or  present — to 
pause,  solemnly  pause!  and  contemplate  the  frightful  precipice 
which  lies  directly  before  them.  To  retreat  may^be  painful  and 
mortifying  to  their  gallantry  and  pride,  but  it  is  to  retreat  to  the 
Union,  to  safety,  and  to  those  brethren  with  whom,  or  with  whose 
ancestors,  they,  or  their  ancestors,  have  won,  on  fields  of  glory, 
imperishable  renown.  To  advance,  is  to  rush  on  certain  arid 
inevitable  disgrace  and  destruction. 

We  have  been  told  of  deserted  castles,  of  uninhabited  halls, 
and  of  mansions,  once  the  seats  of  opulence  and  hospitality,  now 
abandoned  and  mouldering  in  ruins.  I  never  had  the  honor  of 
being  in  South  Carolina ;  but  I  have  heard  and  read  of  the  sto 
ries  of  its  chivalry,  and  of  its  generous  and  open-hearted  libe 
rality.  I  have  heard,  too,  of  the  struggles  for  power  between 
the  lower  and  upper  country.  The  same  causes  which  existed 
in  Virginia,  with  which  I  have  been  acquainted,  I  presume,  have 
had  their  influence  in  Carolina.  In  whose  hands  now  are  the 
17* 


193  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

once  proud  seats  of  Westovcr  Curl,  Maycox,  Shirley,*  and  oth» 
ers,  on  James  river,  and  in  lower  Virginia  ?  Under  the  opera 
tion  of  laws,  abolishing  the  principle  of  primogeniture,  and  pro 
viding  the  equitable  rule  of  an  equal  distribution  of  estates  among 
those  in  equal  degree  of  consanguinity,  they  have  passed  into 
other  and  stranger  hands.  Some  of  the  descendants  of  illustri 
ous  families  have  gone  to  the  far  west,  whilst  others,  lingering 
behind,  have  contrasted  their  present  condition  with  that  of  their 
venerated  ancestors.  They  behold  themselves  excluded  from 
their  lathers'  houses,  now  in  the  hands  of  those  who  v/ere  once 
their  lathers' overseers,  or  sinking  into  decay;  their  imaginations 
paint  ancient  renown,  the  fading  honors  of  tJieir  n^rne,  glories 
gone  by;  too  poor  to  live,  too  proud  <o  wor<,  too  high-minded  and 
honorable  to  resort  to  ignoble  mear.s  of  acqu'.shion,  bravp.  da 
ring,  chivairous,  what  can  bb  the  cause  of  !.l:eir  presert  unhappy 
state?  The  " accursed1'  tariff  presents  itself  to  their  excited 
imaginations,  and  they  blin.Uy  ruR.li  into  the  ran'iis  of  those  who, 
unfurling  the  banner  of  nullification,  would  place  a  stale  upon  its 
sovereignty  ! 

The  danger  to  our  Union  does  not  lie  on  the  side  of  persist 
ence  in  the  American  system,  but  on  that  of  its  abandonment. 
If,  as  I  have  supposed  and  believe,  the  inhabitants  of  all  north 
arid  east  of  James  river,  and  all  west  of  the  mountains,  including 
Louisiana,  arc  deeply  interested  in  the  preservation  of  that  sys 
tem,  would  they  be  reconciled  to  its  overthrow  ?  Can  it  be  ex-* 
pected  that  two-thirds  if  not  three-fourths,  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  would  consent  to  the  destruction  of  a  policy,  be 
lieved  to  be  indispensably  necessary  to  their  prosperity?  When, 
too,  the  sacrifice  is  made  at  the  instance  of  a  single  interest} 
which  they  verily  believe  will  not  be  promoted  by  it?  In  esti 
mating  the  deirree  of  peril  which  may  be  incident  to  two  oppo 
site  courses  of  human  policy,  the  statesman  would  be  short-sight 
ed  who  should  content  himself  with  viewing  only  the  evils,  rea 
or  imaginary,  which  belong  to  that  course  which  is  in  practica; 
operation.  He  should  lii't  himself  up  to  the  contemplation  of 
those  greater  and  more  certain  dangers  which  might  inevitably 
attend  the  adoption  of  the  alternative  course.  What  would  be 
the  condition  of  this  Union,  if  Pennsylvania  and  New-York,  those 
mammoth  members  of  our  confederacy,  were  firmly  persuaded 
that  their  industry  was  paralysed,  and  their  prosperity  blighted, 
by  the  enforcement  of  the  British  colonial  system,  under  the  de 
lusive  name  of  free  trade  ?  They  are  now  tranquil  and  happy, 
and  contented,  conscious  of  their  welfare,  and  feeling  a  salutary 
and  rapid  circulation  of  the  products  of  home  manufactures  and 
home  industry  throughout  all  their  great  arteries.  But  let  that 
be  checked,  let  them  feel  that  a  foreign  system  is  to  predominate. 
and  the  sources  of  their  subsistence  and  comfort  dried  up;  lei 

*  As  to  Shirley,  Mr.  Ciay  acknowledges  his  mistake,  maJe  in  tlif  warmth  of  debate 
It  is  ypt  the  abode  of  tlio  respectable  ami  hospitable  descendants  of  its  former  opul«u 
proprietor. 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  199 

New-England  and  the.  west,  and  the  middle  states,  all  feel  that 
they  too  are  the  victims  of  a  mistaken  policy,  and  let  these  vast 
portions  of  our  country  despair  of  any  favorable  change,  and  then 
indeed,  might  we  tremble  for  the  continuance  and  safety  of  this 
Union ! 

And  need  I  remind  you,  sir.  that  this  dereliction  of  the  duty  of 
protecting  our  domestic  industry,  and  abandonment  of  it  to  the 
fate  of  foreign  legislation,  would  be  directly  at  war  with  leading 
considerations  which  prompted  the  adoption  of  the  present  con 
stitution  ?  The  states,  respectively,  surrendered  to  the  general 
government  the  whole  power  of  laying  imposts  on  foreign  goods. 
They  stripped  themselves  of  all  power  to  protect  their  own  man 
ufactures,  by^  the  most  efficacious  means  of  encouragement — the 
imposition  of  duties  on  rival  foreign  fabrics.  Did  they  create  that 
great  trust?  Did  they  voluntarily  subject  themselves  to  this  self- 
restriction,  that  the  power  should  remain  in  the  federal  govern 
ment  inactive,  unexecuted,  and  lifeless  ?  Mr.  Madison,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  government,  told  you  otherwise.  In  dis 
cussing  at  that  early  period  this  very  subject,  he  declared  that  a 
failure  to  exercise  this  power  would  be  a  '"fraud  "  upon  the  nor 
thern  states,  to  which  may  now  be  added  the  middle  and  western 
states. 

[Governor  Miller  asked  to  what  expression  of  Mr.  Madison's 
opinion  Mr.  Clay  referred;  and  Mr.  C.  replied,  his  opinion,  ex 
pressed  in  the  house  of  representatives  in  1789,  as  reported  in 
Lloyd's  Congressional  debates.] 

Gentlemen  are  greatly  deceived  as  to  the  hold  which  this  sys 
tem  has  in  the  affections  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  They 
represent  that  it  is  the  policy  of  New-England,  and  that  she  is 
most  benefitted  by  it.  If  there  be  any  part  of  this  Union  which 
lias  been  most  steady,  most,  unanimous,  and  most  determined  in 
its  support,  it  is  Pennsylvania.  Why  is  not  that  powerful  state 
attacked  ?  Why  pass  her  over,  and  aim  the  blow  at  New-Eng 
land?  New-England  came,  reluctantly,  into  the  policy.  In  1824, 
a  majority  of  her  delegation  was  opposed  to  it.  From  the  largest 
state  of  New-England  there  was  but  a  solitary  vote  in  favor  of 
the  bill.  That  enterprising  people  can  readily  accommodate 
their  industry  to  any  policy,  provided  it  be  settled.  Thev  sup 
posed  this  was  fixed,  and  they  submitted  to  the  decrees  of  gov 
ernment.  And  the  progress  of  public  opinion  has  kept  pace  with 
the  developements  of  the  benefits  of  the  system.  Now,  all  New- 
England,  at  least  in  this  house,  (with  the  exception  of  one  small, 
still  voice)  is  in  favor  of  the  system.  In  1824  all  Maryland  waa 
against  it ;  now  the  majority  is  for  it.  Then,  Louisiana,  with  one 
exception,  was  opposed  to  it ;  now,  without  any  exception,  she  is 
in  favor  of  it.  The  march  of  public  sentiment  is  to  the  south. 
Virginia  will  be  the  next  convert, ;  and,  in  less  than  seven  years, 
if  there  be  no  obstacles  from  political  causes,  or  prejudices  indus 
triously  instilled,  the  majority  of  eastern  Virginia  will  be,  as  the 
majority  of  western  Virginia  now  is.  in  favor  of  the  American 


200  IN  DEFENCE  OF 

system.  North  Carolina  will  follow  later,  but  not  less  cer 
tainly.  Eastern  Tennessee  is  now  in  favor  of  the  system.  And, 
finally,  its  doctrines  will  pervade  the  whole  Union,  and  the  won 
der  will  be,  that  they  ever  should  have  been  opposed. 

I  have  now  to  proceed  to  notice  some  objections  which  have 
been  urged  against  the  resolution  under  consideration.  With 
respect  to  the  amendment  which  the  gentleman  from  South  Caro 
lina  has  offered,  as  he  has  intimated  his  purpose  to  modify  it,  I 
shall  forbear,  for  the  present,  to  comment  upon  it.  It  is  contend 
ed  that  the  resolution  proposes  the  repeal  of  duties  on  luxuries, 
leaving  those  on  necessaries  t6  remain,  and  that  it  will,  therefore, 
relieve  the  rich,  without  lessening  the  burthens  of  the  poor.  And 
the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  has  carefully  selected,  for 
ludicrous  effect,  a  number  of  the  unprotected  articles,  cosmetics, 
perfumes,  oranges,  &e.  I  must  say,  that  this  exhibition  of  the 
gentleman  is  not  in  keeping  with  the  candor  which  he  has  gene 
rally  displayed ;  that  he  knows  very  well  that  the  duties  upon 
these  articles  are  trifling,  and  that  it  is  of  little  consequence 
whether  they  are  repealed  or  retained.  Both  systems,  the  Amer 
ican  and  the  foreign,  comprehend  some  articles  which  may  be 
deemed  luxuries.  The  senate  knows  that  the  unprotected  arti 
cles  which  yield  the  principal  part  of  the  revenue,  with  which 
this  measure  would  dispense,  are  coffee,  tea,  spices,  wrines  and 
silks.  Of  all  these  articles,  wines  and  silks'  alone  can  be  pro 
nounced  to  be  luxuries ;  and  as  to  wines,  we  have  already  rati 
fied  a  treaty,  not  yet  promulgated,  by  which  the  duties  on  them 
are  to  be  considerably  reduced.  If  the  universality  of  the  use  of 
objects  of  consumption  determines  their  classification,  coffee,  tea 
and  spices,  in  the  present  condition  of  civilized  society,  may  be 
considered  necessaries.  Even  if  they  were  luxuries,  why  should 
not  the  poor,  by  cheapening  their  prices,  if  that  can  be  effected, 
be  allowed  to  use  them  ?  Why  should  riot  a  poor  man  be  allow 
ed  to  tie  a  silk  handkerchief  on  his  neck,  occasionally  regale  him 
self  with  a  glass  of  cheap  French  wine,  or  present  his  wife  or 
daughter  with  a  silk  gown,  to  be  worn  on  Sabbath  or  gala  days? 
I  am  quite  sure  that  1  do  not  misconstrue  the  feelings  of  the  gen 
tleman's  heart,  in  supposing  that  he  would  be  happy  to  see  the 
poor,  as  well  as  the  rich,  moderately  indulging  themselves  in 
these  innocent  gratifications.  For  one,  I  am  delighted  to  see  the 
condition  of  the  poor  attracting  the  consideration  of  the  oppo 
nents  of  the  tariff.  It  is  for  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and 
especially  for  the  poor,  that  I  have  ever  supported  the  American 
system.  It  affords  them  profitable  employment,  and  supplies  the 
means  of  comfortable  subsistence.  It  secures  to  them,  certainly, 
necessaries  of  life,  manufactured  at  home,  and  places  within  their 
reach,  and  enables  them  to  acquire  a  reasonable  share  of  foreign 
luxuries  ;  whilst  the  system  of  gentlemen  promises  Ihem  necessa 
ries  made  in  foreign  countries,  arid  which  are  beyond  their  pow 
er,  and  denies  to  them  luxuries,  which  they  would  possess  no 
means  to  purchase. 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  201 

The  constant  complaint  of  South  Carolina  against  the  tariff, 
is,  that  it  checks  importations,  and  disables^foreign  powers  from 
purchasing  the  agricultural  productions  of  the  United  States. 
The  effect  of  the  resolution  will  be  to  increase  importations,  not 
so  much,  it  is  true,  from  Great  Britain,  as  from  other  powers,  but 
not  the  less  acceptable  on  that  account  It  is  a  misfortune  that 
so  large  a  portion  of  our  foreign  commerce  concentrates  in  one 
nation°;  it  subjects  ns  too  much  to  the  legislation  and  the  policy 
of  that  nation,  and  exposes  us  to  the  influence  of  her  numerous 
agents,  factors  and  merchants.  And  it  is  not  among  the  small 
est  recommendations  of  the  measure  before  the  senate,  that  its 
tendency  will  be  to  expand  our  commerce  with  France,  our  great 
revolutionary  ally— the  land  of  our  Lafayette.  There  is  much 
greater  probability  also,  of  an  enlargement  of  the  present  demand 
for  cotton,  in  France,  than  in  Great  Britain.  France  engaged 
later  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  and  has  made,  therefore,  less 
progress.  She  has,  moreover,  no  colonies  producing  the  article 
in  abundance,  whose  industry  she  might  be  tempted  to  encour 
age. 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Maryland,  (Gen.  Smith,)  by 
his  reply  to  a  speech  which,  on  the  opening  of  the  subject  of  this 
resolution,  I  had  occasion  to  make,  has  rendered  it  necessary 
that  I  should  take  some  notice  of  his  observations.  The  honora 
ble  gentleman  stated  that  he  had  been  accused  of  partiality  to 
the  manufacturing  interest.  Never  was  there  a  more  groundless 
and  malicious  charge  preferred  against  a  calumniated  man. — 
Since  this  question  has  been  agitated  in  the  public  councils, 
although  I  have  often  heard  from  him  professions  of  attachment 
to  this  branch  of  industry,  I  have  never  known  any  member  a 
more  uniform,  determined  and  uncompromising  opponent  of 
them,  than  the  honorable  senator  has  invariably  been.  And  i(\ 
hereafter,  the  calumny  should  be  repeated,  of  his  friendship  to 
the  American  system,  I  shall  be  ready  to  furnish  to  him,  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,  my  testimony  to  his  innocence.  The  hon 
orable  gentleman  supposed  that  I  had  advanced  the  idea  that  the 
permanent  revenue  of  this  country  should  be  fixed  at  eighteen 
millions  of  dollars.  Certainly  1  had  no  intention  to  announce 
such  an  opinion,  nor  do  my  expressions,  fairly  interpreted,  imply 
it.  I  stated,  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  that,  estimating  the  or 
dinary  revenue  of  the  country  at  twenty-five  millions,  and  the 
amount  of  the  duties  on  the  unprotected  articles  proposed  to  be 
repealed  by  the  resolution,  at  seven  millions,  the  latter  sum  taken 
from  the  former  would  leave  eighteen.  But  I  did  not  intimate 
any  belief  that  the  revenue  of  the  country  ought,  for  the  future, 
to  be  permanently  fixed  at  that  or  any  other  precise  sum.  I  sta 
ted  that,  after  having  effected  so  great  a  reduction,  we  might 
pause,  cautiously  survey  the  whole  ground,  and  deliberately  de 
termine  upon  other  measures  of  reduction,  some  of  which  I  indi 
cated.  And  I  now  say,  preserve  the  protective  system  in  full 
vigor  ;  give  us  the  proceeds  of  the  public  domain  for  internal  im- 


202  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

provements,  or  if  you  please,  partly  for  that  object,  and  partly 
for  the  removal  of  the  free  blacks,  with  their  own  consent,  from 
the  United  States ;  and  for  one,  I  have  no  objection  to  the  reduc 
tion  of  the  public  revenue  to  fifteen,  to  thirteen,  or  even  to  nine 
millions  of  dollars. 

In  regard  to  the  scheme  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  for 
paying  off  the  whole  of  the  remaining  public  debt,  by  the 
4th  day  of  March,  1833,  including  the  three  per  cent,  and 
for  that  purpose,  selling  the  bank  stock,  I  had  remarked  that, 
with  the  exception  of  the  three  per  cent,  there  was  not  more 
than  about  four  millions  of  dollars  of  the  debt  due  and  pay 
able  within  this  year,  that,  to  meet  this,  the  secretary  had  stated 
in  his  annual  report,  that  the  treasury  would  have,  from  the  re 
ceipts  of  this  year,  fourteen  millions  of  dollars,  applicable  to  the 
principal  of  the  debt;  that  1  did  not  perceive  any  urgency  for 
paying  off  the  three  percent,  by  the  precise  day  suggested;  and 
that  there  was  no  necessity,  according  to  the  plans  of  the  treasury, 
assuming  them  to  be  expedient  and  proper,  to  postpone  the  re 
peal  of  the  duties  on  unprotected  articles.  The  gentleman  from 
Maryland  imputed  to  me  ignorance  of  the  act  of  the  24th  April, 
1830,  according  to  which,  in  his  opinion  the  secretary  was  ob 
liged  to  purchase  the  three  percent.  On  what  ground  the  sena 
tor  supposed  I  was  ignorant  of  that  act  he  has  riot  stated.  Al 
though  when  it  passed  I  was  at  Ashland,  I  assure  him  that  I  was 
not  there  altogether  uninformed  of  what  was  passing  in  the  world. 
I  regularly  received  the  Register  of  my  excellent  friend  (Mr. 
Niles,)  published  in  Baltimore,  the  National  Intelligencer,  and 
other  papers.  There  are  two  errors  to  which  gentlemen  are 
sometimes  liable ;  one  is  to  magnify  the  amount  of  knowledge 
which  they  possess  themselves,  and  the  second  is  to  depreciate 
that  which  others  have  acquired.  And  will  the  gentleman 
from  Maryland  excuse  me  for  thinking  that  no  man  is  more  prone 
to  commit  both  errors  than  himself?  I  will  not  say  that  he  ia 
ignorant  of  the  true  meaning  of  the  actoflSSO.  but  I  certainly 
place  a  different  construction  upon  it  from  what  he  does.  It  does 
not  oblige  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  or  rather  the  commission 
ers  of  the  sinking  fund,  to  apply  the  surplus  of  any  year  to  the 
purchase  of  the  three  per  cent  stock  particularly,  but  leaves 
them  at  liberty  "  to  apply  such  surplus  to  the  purchase  of  any 
portion  of  the  public  debt,  at  such  rates  as,  in  their  opinion  may 
be  advantageous  to  the  United  States."  This  vests  a  discre 
tionary  authority,  to  be  exercised  under  official  responsibility. 
And  if  any  secretary  of  the  the  treasury,  when  he  had  the  option 
of  purchasing  a  portion  of  the  debt,  bearing  a  higher  rate  of  in 
terest  at  par  or  about  par,  were  to  execute  the  acfby  purchasing 
the  three  per  cents.,  at  its  present  price,  he  would  merit  impeach 
ment  Undoubtedly  a  state  of  lact  may  exist,  such  as  there 
being  no  public  debt  remaining  to  be  paid,  but  the  three  per 
cent,  stock,  with  a  surplus  in  the  treasury,  idle  and  unproductive, 
in  which  it  might  be  expedient  to  apply  that  surplus  to  the  rein> 


THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM.  203 

bursement  of  the  three  per  cents.  But  whilst  the  interest  of 
money  is  at  a  greater  rate  than  three  per  cent,  it  would  not,  I 
think,  be  wise  to  produce  an  accumulation  of  public  treasure  for 
such  a  purpose.  The  postponement  of  any  reduction  of  the 
amount  of  the  revenue,  at  this  session,  must  however  give  rise  to 
that  very  accumulation  ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  that  I  cannot  per 
ceive  the  utility  of  the  postponement. 

We  are  told  by  the  gentleman  from  Maryland,  that  offers 
have  been  made  to  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  exchange 
three  per  cents.,  at  their  market  price  of  96  per  cent.,  for  the 
bank  stock  of  the  government  at  its  market  price,  which  is  about 
126,  and  he  thinks  it  would  be  wise  to  accept  them.  If  the 
charter  of  the  bank  is  renewed  that  stock  will  be  probably  worth 
much  more  than  its  present  price  ;  if  not  renewed,  much  less. 
Would  it  be  fair  in  government,  whilst  the  question  is  pending 
and  undecided,  to  make  such  an  exchange  ?  The  difference  in 
value  between  a  stock  bearing  three  per  cent.,  and  one  bearing 
seven  per  cent,  must  be  really  much  greater  than  the  difference 
between  96  and  126  per  cent.  Supposing  them  to  be  perpetual 
annuities,  the  one  would  be  worth  more  than  twice  the  value  of 
the  other.  But  my  objection  to  the  treasury  plan  is,  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  execute  it — to  continue  these  duties  as  the  secretary 
proposes.  The  secretary  has  a  debt  of  twenty-four  millions  to 
pay;  he  has  from  the  accruing  receipts  of  this  year,  fourteen 
millions,  and  we  are  now  told  by  the  senator  from  Maryland, 
that  this  sum  of  .fourteen  millions  is  exclusive  of  any  of  the  duties 
accruing  this  year.  He  proposes  to  raise  eight  millions  by  sale 
of  the  bank  stock,  and  to  anticipate,  from  the  revenue  receivable 
next  year  two  millions  more.  These  three  items,  then,  of  four 
teen  millions,  eight  millions,  and  two  millions,  makeup  the  sum 
required,  of  twenty-four  millions,  without  the  aid  of  the  duties  to 
which  the  resolution  relates. 

The  gentleman  from  Maryland  insists  that  the  general  gov 
ernment  has  been  liberal  toward  the  west  in  its  appropriations 
of  public  lands  for  internal  improvements ;  and,  as  to  fortifica 
tions,  he  contends  that  the  expenditures  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi,  are  for  its  especial  benefit.  The  appropriations  of 
land  to  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Alabama,  have 
been  liberal;  but  it  is  not  to  be  overlooked,  that  the  general  gov 
ernment  is  itself  the  greatest  proprietor  of  land,  and  that  a  tend 
ency  of  the  improvements,  which  these  appropriations  were  to 
effect  is  to  increase  the  value  of  the  unsold  public  domain.  The 
erection  of  the  fortifications  for  the  defence  of  Louisiana,  was 
highly  proper ;  but  the  gentleman  might  as  well  place  to  the  ac 
count  of  the  west,  the  disbursements  for  the  fortifications  intended 
to  defend  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York,  to  all  which 
capitals  western  produce  is  sent  and  in  the  security  of  all  of 
which,  the  western  people  feel  a  lively  interest.  They  do  not 
object  to  expenditures  for  the  army,  for  the  navy,  for  fortifica 
tions,  or  for  any  other  defensive  or  commercial  object  on  the 


204  IN  DEFENCE  OP 

Atlantic,  but  they  do  think  that  their  condition  ought  also  to  receive 
friendly  attention  from  the  general  government.  With  respect 
to  the  state  of  Kentucky  not  one  cent  of  money,  or  one  acre  of 
land,  has  been  applied  to  any  object  of  internal  improvement 
within  her  limits.  The  subscription  to  the  stock  of  the  canal  at 
Louisville  was  for  an  object  in  which  many  states  were  interest 
ed.  The  senator  from  Maryland  complains  that  he  has  been 
unable  to  obtain  any  aid  for  the  rail  road  which  the  enterprise  of 
Baltimore  has  projected,  and,  in  part,  executed.  That  was  a 
great  work,  the  conception  of  which  was  bold,  and  highly  honor 
able,  and  it  deserves  national  encouragement.  But  how  has  the 
committee  of  roads  and  canals,  at  this  session  been  constituted  ? 
The  senator  from  Maryland  possessed  a  brief  authority  to  or 
ganize  it,  and,  if  I  am  not  misinformed,  a  majority  of  the  mem 
bers  composing  it,  appointed  by  him,  are  opposed  both  to  the  consti 
tutionality  of  the  power  and  the  expediency  of  exercising  it. 

And  now,  sir,  I  would  address  a  lew  words  to  the  friends  of  the 
American  system  in  the  senate.  The  revenue  must,  ought  to  be 
reduced.  The  country  will  not,  after,  by  the  payment  of  the 
public  debt,  ten  or  twelve  millions  of  dollars  become  unnecessary; 
bear  such  an  annual  surplus.  Its  distribution  would  form  a  sub 
ject  of  perpetual  contention.  Some  of  the  opponents  of  the  sys 
tem  understand  the  stratagem  by  which  to  attack  it,  and  arc 
shaping  their  course  accordingly.  It  is  to  crush  the  system  by 
the  accumulation  of  revenue,  and  by  the  effort  to  persuade  the 
people  that  they  are  unnecessarily  taxed,  whilst  those  would 
really  tax  them  who  would  break  up  the  native  sources  of  sup 
ply,  and  render  them  dependent  upon  the  foreign.  But  the  re 
venue  ought  to  be  reduced,  so  as  to  accommodate  it  to  the  fact 
of  the  payment  of  the  public  debt.  And  the  alternative  is  or 
may  be,  to  preserve  the  protecting  system,  and  repeal  the  duties 
on  the  unprotected  articles,  or  to  preserve  the  duties  on  un 
protected  articles,  and  endanger  if  not  destroy  the  system. 
Let  us  then  adopt  the  measure  before  us,  which  will  bene 
fit  all  classes ;  the  farmer,  the  professional  man,  the  merchant, 
the  manufacturer,  the  mechanic ;  and  the  cotton  planter  more 
than  all.  A  few  months  ago,  there  was  no  diversity  of  opinion 
as  to  the  expediency  of  this  measure.  All,  then,  seemed  to  unite 
in  the  selection  of  these  objects  for  a  repeal  of  duties  which  were 
not  produced  within  the  country.  Such  a  repeal  did  not  touch 
our  domestic  industry,  violated  no  principle,  offended  no  preju 
dice. 

Can  we  not  all,  whatever  may  be  our  favorite  theories,  cor 
dially  unite  on  this  neutral  ground  ?  When  that  is  occupied,  let 
iis  look  beyond  it,  and  see  if  any  thing  can  be  done,  in  the  field 
of  protection,  to  modify,  to  improve  it,  or  to  satisfy  those  who  are 
opposed  to  the  system.  Our  southern  brethren  believe  that  it  is 
injurious  to  them,  and  ask  its  repeal.  We  believe  that  its  aban 
donment  will  be  prejudicial  to  them,  and  ruinous  to  every  other 
section  of  the  Union.  However  strong  their  convictions  may  be, 


ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO.      205 

they  are  not  stronger  than  ours.  Between  the  points  of  the  pre 
servation  of  the  system  and  its  absolute  repeal,  there  is  no  prin 
ciple  of  union.  If  it  can  be  shown  to  operate  immoderately  on 
any  quarter,  if  the  measure  of  protection  to  any  article  can  be 
demonstrated  to  be  undue  and  inordinate,  it  would  be  the  duty 
of  Congress  to  interpose  and  apply  a  remedy.  And  none  will 
co-operate  more  heartily  than  I  shall,  in  the  performance  of  that 
duty.  It  is  quite  probable  that  beneficial  modifications  of  the 
system  may  be  made  without  impairing  its  efficacy.  But  to 
make  it  fulfil  the  purposes  of  its  institution,  the  measure  of  pro 
tection  ought  to  be  adequate.  If  it  be  not,  all  interests  will  be 
injuriously°affected.  The  manufacturer,  cripled  in  his  exertions, 
will  produce  less  perfect  and  dearer  fabrics,  and  the  consumer 
will  feel  the  consequence.  This  is  the  spirit  and  these  are  the 
principles  only,  on  which,  it  seems  to  me,  that  a  settlement  of 
this  great  question  can  be  made,  satisfactorily  to  all  parts  of  our 
Union. 


ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO. 

Speech  on  the  President's  Veto  of  the  Bank  Bill,  July  12,  1832. 

Mr.  Clay  said  he  had  some  observations  to  submit  on  this 
question,  which  he  would  not  trespass  on  the  Senate  in  offering, 
but  that  it  had  some  command  of  leisure,  in  consequence  of  the 
conference  which  had  been  agreed  upon  in  respect  to  the  tariff'. 

A  bill  to  recharter  the  bank  has  recently  passed  Congress, 
after  much  deliberation.  In  this  body,  we  know  that  there  are 
members  enough  who  entertain  no  constitutional  scruples,  to 
make,  with  the  vote  by  which  the  bill  was  passed,  a  majority  of 
two-thirds.  In  the  House  of  Representatives  also,  it  is  believed, 
there  is  a  like  majority  in  favor  of  the  bill.  Notwithstanding 
this  state  of  things,  the  President  has  rejected  the  bill,  and  trans 
mitted  to  the  Senate  an  elaborate  message,  communicating  at 
large  his  objections.  The  constitution  requires  that  we  should 
reconsider  the  bill,  and  that  the  question  of  its  passage,  the 
President's  objections  notwithstanding,  shall  be  taken  by  ayes 
and  noes.  Respect  to  him,  as  well  as  the  injunctions  of  the 
constitution,  require  that  we  should  deliberately  examine  his 
reasons,  and  reconsider  the  question. 

The  veto  is  an  extraordinary  power,  which,  though  tolerated 
by  the  constitution,  was  not  expected,  by  the  convention,  to  be 
used  in  ordinary  cases.  It  was  designed  for  instances  of  pre 
cipitate  legislation,  in  unguarded  moments.  Thus  restricted, 
and  it  had  been  thus  restricted  by  all  former  Presidents,  it  might 
not  be  mischievous.  During  Mr.  Madison's  administration  of 
18 


206      ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO. 

eight  years,  there  had  occurred  but  two  or  three  cases  of  its 
exercise.  During  the  last  administration,  I  do  not  now  recollect 
that  it  was  once.  In  a  period  little  upwards  of  three  years,  the 
present  Chief  Magistrate  has  employed  the  veto  four  times.  We 
now  hear  quite  frequently,  in  the  progress  of  measures  through 
Congress,  the  statement  that  the  President  will  veto  them,  urged 
as  an  objection  to  their  passage. 

The  veto  is  hardly  reconcileable  with  the  genius  of  repre 
sentative  government.  It  is  totally  irreconcileable  with  it,  if  it 
is  to  be  frequently  employed  in  respect  to  the  expediency  of 
measures,  as  well  as  their  constitutionality.  It  is  a  feature  oi*  our 
government  borrowed  from  a  prerogative  of  the  British  king. 
And  it  is  remarkable  that  in  England  it  has  grown  obsolete,  not 
having  been  used  for  upwards  of  a  century.  At  the  commence 
ment  of  the  French  revolution,  in  discussing  the  principles  of 
their  constitution,  in  national  convention,  the  veto  held  a  con 
spicuous  figure.  The  gay,  laughing  population  of  Paris  bestow 
ed  on  the  King  the  appellation  of  Monsieur  Veto,  and  on  the 
queen,  that  of  Madame  Veto.  The  convention  finally  decreed, 
that  if  a  measure  rejected  by  the  king  should  obtain  the  sanction 
of  two  concurring  legislatures,  it  should  be  a  law,  notwithstand 
ing  the  veto.  In  the  constitution  of  Kentucky,  and  perhaps  in 
some  other  of  the  State  constitutions,  it  is  provided  that  if,  lifter 
the  rejection  of  a  bill  by  the  Governor,  it  shall  be  passed  by  a 
majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to  both  houses,  it  shall  be 
come  a  law,  notwithstanding  the  Governor's  objections.  As  a 
co-ordinate  branch  of  the  government,  the  Chief  Magistrate  has 
great  weight.  If,  after  a  respectful  consideration  of  his  objec 
tions  urged  against  a  bill,  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected 
to  the  Legislature  shall  still  pass  it,  notwithstanding  his  official 
influence  and  the  force  of  his  reasons,  ought  it  not  to  become  a 
law?  Ought  the  opinion  of  one  man  to  overrule  that  of  a  legis 
lative  body  twice  deliberately  expressed? 

It  cannot  be  imagined  that  the  convention  contemplated  the 
application  of  the  veto  to  a  question  which  has  been  so  long,  so 
often,  and  so  thoroughly  scrutinized,  as  that  of  the  bank  of  the 
United  States,  by  every  department  of  the  government,  in  al 
most  every  stage  of  its  existence,  and  by  the  people,  and  by  the 
State  Legislatures.  Of  all  the  controverted  questions  which 
have  sprung  up  under  our  government,  not  one  has  been  so  fully 
investigated  as  that  of  its  power  to  establish  a  bank  of  the  United 
•States.  More  than  seventeen  years  ago,  in  January.  1815,  Mr. 
Madison  then  said,  in  a  message  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States :  "Waiving  the  question  of  the  constitutional  authority  of 
the  Legislature  to  establish  an  incorporated  bank,  as  being  pre 
cluded,  in  my  judgment,  by  repeated  recognitions,  under  varied 
circumstances,  of  the  validity  of  such  an  institution,  in  acts  of  the 
legislative^  executive  and  judicial  branches  of  the  government, 
accompanied  by  indications,  in  different  modes,  of  a  concurrence 
of  the  general  will  of  the  nation."  Mr.  Madison,  himself  op- 


ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO.      207 

posed  to  the  first  bank  of  the  United  States,  yielded  his  own 
convictions  to  those  of  the  nation,  and  all  the  departments  of  the 
government  thus  often  expressed.  Subsequent  to  this  true  but 
strong  statement  of  the  case,  the  present  bank  of  the  United 
States  was  established,  and  numerous  other  acts,  of  all  the  de 
partments  of  government,  manifesting  their  settled  sense  of  the 
power,  have  been  added  to  those  which  existed  prior  to  the  date 
of  Mr.  Madison's  message. 

No  question  has  been  more  generally  discussed,  within  the 
last  two  years,  by  the  people  at  large,  and  in  State  Legislatures, 
than  that  of  the  bank.  And  this  consideration  of  it  has  been 
prompted  by  the  President  himself.  In  his  first  message  to  Con 
gress,  (in  December,  1829.)  he  brought  the  subject  to  the  view 
of  that  body  and  the  nation,  and  expressly  declared,  that  it 
could  not,  for  the  interest  of  all  concerned,  be  c:too  soon"  settled. 
In  each  of  his  subsequent  annual  messages,  in  1830  and  1831, 
he  again  invited  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  subject.  Thus, 
after  an  interval  of  two  years,  and  after  the  intervention  of  the 
election  of  a  new  Congress,  the  President  deliberately  renews 
his  recommendation  to  consider  the  question  of  the  renewal  of 
the  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States.  And  yet  his  friends 
now  declare  the  agitation  of  the  question  to  be  premature!  It 
was  not  prenriturc  in  1329  to  present  the  question,  but  it  is  pre 
mature  in  1832  to  consider  and  decide  it! 

After  the  President  had  directed  public  attention  to  this  ques 
tion,  it  became  not  only  a  topic  of  popular  conversation,  but 
was  discussed  in  the  press,  and  employed  as  a  theme  in  popular 
elections.  I  was  myself  interrogated,  on  more  occasions  than 
one,  to  make  a  public  expression  of  my  sentiments;  and  a  friend 
of  mine  in  Kentucky,  a  candidate  for  the  State  Legislature,  told 
me  near  two  years  ago,  that  he  was  surprised,  in  an  obscure 
part  of  his  county,  (the  hills  of  Benson,)  where  there  was  but 
little  occasion  for  bank's,  to  find  himself  questioned  on  the  stump 
as  to  the  recharter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States.  It  seemed 
as  if  a  sort  of  general  order  had  gone  out,  from  head-quarters, 
to  the  partizans  of  the  administration  every  where,  to  agitate 
and  make  the  most  of  the  question.  They  have  done  soT  and 
their  condition  now  reminds  me  of  the  fable  invented  by  Dr. 
Franklin  of  the  eagle  and  the  cat,  to  demonstrate  that  ^Esop 
had  not  exhausted  invention,  in  the  construction  of  his  memorable 
fables.  The  eagle,  you  know,  Mr.  President,  pounced  from  lite 
lofty  flight  in  the  air  upon  a  cat,  taking  it  to  be  a  pig.  Having 
borne  off  his  prize,  he  quickly  felt  most  painfully  the  paws  of 
the  cat  thrust  deeply  into  his  sides  and  body.  Whilst  flying,  he 
held  a  parley  with  the  supposed  pig,  and  proposed  to  let  go  his 
hold,  if  the  other  would  let  him  alone.  No,  says  .puss,  you 
brought  me  from  yonder  earth  below,  and  I  will  hold  fast  to  you 
until  you  carry  me  back — a  condition  to  which  the  eagle  readily 
assented. 

The  friends  of  the  President,  who  have  been  for  near  three 


208      ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO, 

years  agitating  this  question,  now  turn  round  upon  their  oppo 
nents,  who  have  supposed  the  President  quite  serious  and  in 
earnest  in  presenting  it  for  public  consideration,  and  charge 
them  with  prematurely  agitating  it.  And  that  for  electioneering 
purposes !  The  other  side  understands  perfectly  the  policy  of 
preferring  an  unjust  charge  in  order  to  avoid  a  well  founded 
accusation. 

If  there  be  an  electioneering  motive  in  the  matter,  who  have 
been  actuated  by  it?  Those  who  have  taken  the  President  at 
his  word,  and  deliberated  on  a  measure  which  he  has  repeatedly 
recommended  to  their  consideration;  or  those  who  have  resorted 
to  all  sorts  of  means  to  elude  the  question?  By  alternately 
coaxing  and  threatening  the  bank ;  by  an  extraordinary  investi 
gation  into  the  administration  of  the  bank ;  and  by  every  species 
of  postponement  and  procrastination,  during  the  progress  of  the 

Notwithstanding  all  these  dilatory  expedients,  a  majority  of 
Congress,  prompted  by  the  will  and  the  best  interests  of  the 
nation,  passed  the  bill.  And  I  shall  now  proceed,  with  great 
respect  and  deference,  to  examine  some  of  the  objections  to  its 
becoming  a  law,  contained  in  the  President's  message,  avoiding, 
as  much  as  I  can,  a  repetition  of  what  gentlemen  have  said  who 
preceded  me. 

The  President  thinks  that  the  precedents,  drawn  from  the 
proceedings  of  Congress,  as  to  the  constitutional  power  to  es 
tablish  a  bank,  are  neutralized,  by  there  being  two  for  and  two 
against  the  authority.  He  supposes  that  one  Congress  in  1811, 
and  another  in  1815,  decided  against  the  power.  Let  us  exa 
mine  both  of  these  cases.  The  House  of  Representatives  in 
1811,  passed  the  bill  to  re-charter  the  bank,  and,  consequently 
affirmed  the  power.  The  senate  during  the  same  year  were  di 
vided,  17  and  17,  and  the  Vice-President  gave  the  casting  vote. 
Of  the  17  who  voted  against  the  bank,  we  know  from  the  de 
claration  of  the  senator  from  Maryland,  (General  Smith,)  now 
present,  that  he  entertained  no  doubt  whatever  of  the  constitu 
tional  power  of  Congress  to  establish  a  bank,  and  that  he  voted 
on  totally  distinct  ground.  Taking  away  his  vote  and  adding 
it  to  the  17  who  voted  for  the  bank,  the  number  would  have 
stood  18  for,  and  16  against  the  power.  But  we  know  fur 
ther,  that  Mr.  Gaillard,  Mr.  Anderson  and  Mr.  Robinson,  made 
a  part  of  that  16;  and  that  in  1815,  all  three  of  them  voted  for 
the  bank.  Take  those  three  votes  from  the  16,  and  add  them 
to  the  18,  and  the  vote  of  1811,  as  to  the  question  of  constitu 
tional  power,  would  have  been  21  and  13.  And  of  these  thir 
teen  there  might  have  been  others  still  who  were  n-ot  governed 
in  their  votes  by  any  doubts  of  the  power. 

In  regard  to  the  Congress  of  1815,  so  far  from  their  having 
entertained  any  scruples  in  respect  to  the  power  to  establish  a 
bank,  they  actually  passed  a  bank  bill,  and  thereby  affirmed  the 
power.  It  is  true  that,  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  speaker  of  the 


ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO.      209 

House  of  Representatives,  (Mr.  Cheves,)  they  rejected  another 
bank  bill,  not  on  grounds  of  want  of  power,  but  upon  considera 
tions  of  expediency  in  the  particular  structure  of  that  bank. 

Both  the  adverse  precedents  therefore,  relied  upon  in  the 
message,  operate  directly  against  the  argument  which  they 
were  brought  forward  to  maintain.  Congress,  by  various  other 
acts,  ia  relation  to  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  has  again  and 
again  sanctioned  the  power.  And  I  believe  it  may  be  truly 
affirmed  that  from  the  commencement  of  the  government  to  this 
day,  there  has  not  been  a  Congress  opposed  to  the  bank  of  the 
United  States  upon  the  distinct  ground  of  a  want  of  power  to 
establish  it. 


and  I  delivered  on  the  occasion,  a  speech,  in  which,  among  other 
reasons,  I  assigned  that  of  its  being  unconstitutional?  My 
speech  has  been  read  to  the  senate,  during  the  progress  of  this 
bill,  but  the  reading  of  it  excited  no  other  regret  than  that  it  was 
read  in  such  a  wretched,  bungling,  mangling  manner.*  During 
a  long  public  life,  (I  mention  the  fact,  not  as  claiming  any  merit 
tor  it,)  the  only  great  question  in  which  1  have  ever  changed  my 
opinion,  is  ^that  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States.  If  the  re 
searches  of  the  senator  had  carried  him  a  little  further,  he  would, 
by  turning  over  a  few  more  leaves  of  the  same  book  from  which 
he  read  my  speech,  have  found  that  which  I  made  in  1816, 
m  support  of  the  present  bank.  By  the  reasons  assisrned  in  it 
for  the  change  of  my  opinion,  I  am  ready  to  abide  in  the  judg 
ment  of  the  present  generation  and  of  posterity.  In  1816,  being 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  it  was  perfectly  in  my 
power  to  have  said  nothing  and  done  nothing,  and  thus  have  con 
cealed  the  change  of  opinion  which  my  mind  had.  undergone. 
But  I  did  not  choose  to  remain  silent  'and  escape  responsibil 
ity.  I  chose  publicly  to  avow  my  actual  conversion.  The  war, 
and  the  fatal  experience  of  its  disastrous  events,  had  changed 
me.  Mr.  Madison,  Governor  Pleasants.  and  almost  all  the  pub 
lic  men  around  me,  my  political  friends,  had  changed  their 
opinions  from  the  same  causes. 

The  power  to  establish  a  bank  is  deduced  from  that  clause  of 
the  constitution  which  confers  on  Congress  all  powers  neces- 
earv  and  proper  to  carry  into  effect  the  enumerated  powers.  In 
1811,  I  believed  a  bank  of  the  United  States  not  necessary,  and 
that  a  safe  reliance  might  be  placed  on  the  local  banks,  in  the 
administration  of  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  government.  The  war 
taught  us  many  lessons,  and  among  others  demonstrated  the 
necessity  of  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  to  the  successful  oper 
ations  of  the  government.  I  will  not  trouble  the  senate  with  a 

*  It  is  understood  to  have  been  read  by  Mr.  Hill. 
18* 


210      ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO, 

perusal  of  my  speech  in  1816,  but  ask  its  permission  to  read  a 
lew  extracts : 

"  But  how  stood  the  case  in  1816,  when  he  was  called  upon 
again  to  examine  the  powers  of  the  general  government  to 
incorporate  a  national  bank  ?  A  total  change  of  circumstances 
was  presented — events  of  the  utmost  magnitude  had  intervened. 

"A  general  suspension  of  specie  payments  had  taken  place, 
and  this  had  led  to  a  train  of  circumstances  of  the  most  alarm 
ing  nature.  He  beheld,  dispersed  over  the  immense  extent  of 
the  United  States,  about  three  hund-red  banking  institutions, 
enjoying,  in  different  degrees,  the  confidence  of  the  public, 
shaken  as  to  them  all,  under  no  direct  control  of  the  general 
government,  and  subject  to  no  actual  responsibility  to  the  state- 
authorities.  These  institutions  were  emitting  the  actual  cur 
rency  of  the  United  States — a  currency  consisting  of  paper,  on 
•which  they  neither  paid  interest  nor  principal,  whilst  it  was  ex- 
Ichanged  for  the  paper  of  the  community,  on  which  both  were 
{paid.  We  saw  these  institutions  in  fact,  exercising  what  had 
been  considered,  at  all  times,  and  in  all  countries,  one  of  the 
highest  attributes  of  sovereignty — the  regulation  of  the  current 
medium  of  the  country.  They  were  no  longer  competent  to 
assist  the  treasury,  in  either  of  the  great  operations  of  collection, 
deposite,  or  distribution  of  the  public  revenues.  In  fact,  the 
paper  \vhich  they  emitted,  and  which  the  treasury,  from  the 
force  of  events,  found  itself  constrained  to  receive,  was  constant 
ly  obstructing  the  operations  of  that  department;  for  it  would 
accumulate  where  it  was  not  wanted,  and  could  not  be  used 
where  it  was  \vanf.ed,  for  the  purposes  of  government,  with 
out  a  ruinous  and  arbitrary  brokerage.  Every  man  who  paid 
to  or  received  from  the  government,  paid  or  received  as  much 
less  than  he  ought  to  have  done,  as  was  the  difference  between 
the  medium  in  which  the  payment  was  effected  and  specie. 
Taxes  were  no  longer  uniform.  In  New  England,  where  specie 
payments  had  not  been  suspended,  the  people  were  called  upon 
to  "pay  larger  contributions  than  where  they  were  suspended. 
In  Kentucky  as  much  more  was  paid  by  the  people,  in  their 
taxes,  than  was  paid,  for  example,  in  the  state  of  Ohio,  as  Ken 
tucky  paper  was  worth  more  than  Ohio  paper. 

"Considering,  then,  that  the  state  of  the  currency  was  such 
that  no  thinking  man  could  contemplate  it  without  the  most  se 
rious  alarm ;  that  it  threatened  general  distress,  if  it  did  not 
ultimately  lead  to  convulsion  and  subversion  of  the  government 
— it  appeared  to  him  to  be  the  duty  of  Congress  to  apply  a  re 
medy,  if  a  remedy  could  be  devised.  A  national  bank,  with 
other  auxiliary  measures  was  proposed  as  that  remedy,  Mr. 
Clay  said  he  determined  to  examine  the  question  with  as  little 
prejudice  as  possible,  arising  from  his  former  opinion;  he  knevr 
that  the  safest  course  to  him,  if  he  pursued  a  cold  calculating 
prudence,  was  to  adhere  to  that  opinion  right  or  wrong.  He 
was  perfectly  aware  that  if  he  changed,  or  seemed  to  change  it, 


ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO.   2H 

he  should  expose  himself  to  some  censure  ;  but,  looking  at  the 
subjocf  with  the  light  shed  upon  it,  by  events  happening  sine® 
the  commencement  of  the  war,  he  could  no  longer  doubt  •* 

*  *  He  preferred  to  the  suggestions  of  the  pride  of  consist 
ency,  the  evident  interests  of  the  community,  and  determined  to 
throw  himself  upon  their  justice  and  candor." 

The  interest  which  ibreigners  hold  in  the  existing  bank  of  the 
United  States,  is  dwelt  upon  in  the  message  as  a  serious  objeo- 
tion  to  the  re-charter.  But  this  interest  is  the  result  of  the  as 
signable  nature  of  the  stock ;  and  if  the  objection  be  well  found 
ed,  it  applies  to  government  stock,  to  the  stock  in  local  banks,  in 
canal  and  other  companies,  created  for  internal  improvements, 
and  every  species  of  money  or  moveables  in  which  foreigner* 
may  acquire  an  interest.  The  assignable  character  of  the 
stock  is  a  quality  conferred,  not  for  the  benefit  of  foreigners,  but 
for  that  of  our  own  citizens.  And  the  fact  of  its  being  transfer 
red  to  them  is  the  effect  of  the  balance  of  trade  being  against  us 
— an  evil,  if  it  be  one,  which  the  American  system  will  correct. 
All  governments  wanting  capital  resort  to  foreign  nations  pos 
sessing  it  in  superabundance,  to  obtain  it.  Sometimes  the  re 
sort  is  even  made  by  one  to  another  belligerent  nation.  During 
our  revolutionary  war  we  obtained  foreign  capital,  (Dutch  and 
French)  to  aid  us.  During  the  late  war  American  stock  was 
sent  to  Europe  to  sell ;  and,  if  I  am  not  misinformed,  to  Liver 
pool.  The  question  does  not  depend  upon  the  place  whence  the 
capital  is  obtained,  but  the  advantageous  use  of  it.  The  confi 
dence  of  foreigners  in  our  stocks  is  a  proof  of  the  solidity  of  our 
credit.  Foreigners  have  no  voice  in  the  administration  of  thi» 
bank ;  and  if  they  buy  its  stock,  they  are  obliged  to  submit  to 
citizens  of  the  United  States  to  manage  it.  The  senator  from 
Tennessee,  (Mr.  White,)  asks  what  would  have  been  the  con 
dition  of  this  country,  ilj  during  the  late  war,  this  bank  had  ex 
isted,  with  such  an  interest  in  it  as  foreigners  now  hold  ?  I  will 
tell  him.  We  should  have  avoided  many  of  the  disasters  of  that 
war,  perhaps  those  of  Detroit  and  at  this  place.  The  govern 
ment  would  have  possessed  ample  means  for  its  vigorous  prose 
cution  ;  and  the  interest  of  foreigners — British  subjects  especially, 
would  have  operated  upon  them,  not  upon  us.  Will  it  not  be  a 
serious  evil  to  be  obliged  to  remit  in  specie  to  foreigners  the 
eight  millions  which  they  now  have  in  this  bank,  instead  of  re 
taining  that  capital  within  the  country  to  stimulate  its  industry 
and  enterprize  ? 

The  President  assigns  in  his  message  a  conspicuous  place  to 
the  alledged  injurious  operation  of  the  bank  on  the  interests  of 
the  western  people.  They  ought  to  be  much  indebted  to  him 
for  his  kindness  manifested  towards  them  ;  although,  I  think,  they 
have  much  reason  to  deprecate  it.  The  people  of  all  the  west 
owe  to  this  bank  about  thirty  millions,  which  have  been  borrow 
ed  from  it;  and  the  President  thinks  that  the  payments  for  the 
interest,  and  other  facilities  which  they  derive  from  the  opera- 


212      ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO. 

tions  of  tffrs  bank,  are  so  'onerous  as  to  produce  "a  drain  of  their 
currency,  which  no  country  can  bear  without  inconvenience  and 
occasional  distress."  His  remedy  is  to  compel  them  to  pay  flie 
whole  of  the  debt  which  they  have  contracted  in  a  period  short 
of  four  years.  Now,  Mr.  President,  if  they  cannot  pay  the  inte 
rest  without  distress,  how  are  they  to  pay  the  principal  ?  If  they 
cannot  pay  a  part,  how  are  they  to  pay  the  whole  ?  Whether 
the  payment  of  the  interest  be  or  be  not  a  burthen  to  them,  is  a 
question  for  themselves  to  decide,  respecting  which  they  might 
be  disposed  to  dispense  with  the  kindness  of  the  President.  If 
instead  of  borrowing  thirty  millions  from  the  bank,  they  had  bor 
rowed  a  like  sum  from  a  Girard,  John  Jacob  Astor,  or  any  other 
banker,  what  would  they^  think  of  one  who  should  come  to  them 
and  say — "  gentlemen  of  the  west,  it  will  ruin  you  to  pay  the  in 
terest  on  that  debt,  and  therefore  I  will  oblige  you  to  pay  the 
whole  of  the  principal  in  less  than  four  years."  Would  they  not 
rep|y — «we  know  what  we  are  about;  mind  your  own  business; 
we  are  satisfied  that  in  ours  we  can  make  not  only  the  interest  on 
what  we  loan,  but  a  fair  profit  besides." 
A  great  mistake  exists  about  the  western  operation  of  the  bank. 

§)  It  is  not  the  bank,  but  the  business,  the  commerce  of  the  west, 
and  the  operations  of  government,  that  occasions  the  transfer, 
annually,  of  money  from  the  west  to  the  Atlantic  states.  What 
is  the  actual  course  of  things  1  The  business  and  commerce  of 
the  west  are  carried  on  with  New-Orleans,  wTith  the  southern  and 
southwestern  states,  and  with  the  Atlantic  cities.  We  transport 
our  dead  or  inanimate  produce  to  New-Orleans,  and  receive  in 
return  checks  or  drafts  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States  at  a  pre 
mium  of  a  half  per  cent.  We  send,  by  our  drovers,  our  live  stock 
to  the  south  and  southwest,  and  receive  similar  checks  in  return. 
With  these  drafts  or  checks  our  merchants  proceed  to  the  Atlan 
tic  cities,  and  purchase  domestic  or  foreign  goods  for  western 
consumption.  The  lead  and  fur  trade  of  Missouri  and  Illinois  is 
also  carried  on  principally  through  the  agency  of  the  bank  of  the 
United  States.  The  government  also  transfers  to  places  where 
it  is  wanted,  through  that  bank,  the  sums  accumulated  at  the  dif 
ferent  land  offices  lor  purchases  of  the  public  lands. 

Now  all  these  varied  operations  must  go  on — all  these  remit 
tances  must  be  made,  bank  of  the  United  States,  or  no  bank. — 

•Q  The  bank  does  not  create,  but  it  facilitates  them.  The  bank  is  a 
mere  vehicle :  just  as  much  so  as  the  steamboat  is  the  vehicle 
which  transports  our  produce  to  the  great  mart  of  New-Orleans, 
and  not  the  grower  of  that  produce.  It  is  to  confound  cause  and 
effect,  to  attribute  to  the  bank  the  transfer  of  money  from  the 
west  to  the  east.  Annihilate  the  bank  to-morrow,  and  similar 
transfers  of  capital,  the  same  description  of  pecuniary  operations, 
must  be  continued ;  not  so  well,  it  is  true,  but  performed  they 
must  be,  ill  or  well,  under  any  state  of  circumstances. 

The  true  questions  are,  how  are  they  now  performed,  how 
were  they  conducted  prior  to  the  existence  of  the  bank,  how 


ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO.      213 

would  they  be  after  it  ceased  ?  I  can  tell  you  what  was  our  con 
dition  before  the  bank  was  established ;  and,  as  I  reason  from 
past  to  future  experience,  under  analogous  circumstances,  I  can 
venture  to  predict  what  it  will  probably  be  without  the  bank. 

Before  the  establishment  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  the 
exchange  business  of  the  west  was  carried  on  by  a  premium, 
which  was  generally  paid  on  all  remittances  to  the  east  of  2i 
per  cent.  The  aggregate  amount  of  all  remittances,  throughout 
the  whole  circle  of  the  year,  was  very  great,  and  instead  of  the 
sum  then  paid,  we  now  pay  half  per  cent,  or  nothing,  if  notes  of 
the  bank  of  the  United  States  be  used.  Prior  to  the  bank,  we 
were  without  the  capital  of  the  thirty  millions  which  that  institu 
tion  now  supplies,  stimulating  our  industry  and  invigorating  our 
enterprise.  In  Kentucky  we  have  no  specie  paying  bank,  scarce 
ly  any  currency  other  than  that  of  paper  of  the  bank  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  and  its  branches. 

^How  is  the  west  to  pay  this  enormous  debt  of  thirty  millions 
of  dollars  ?  It  is  impossible.  It  cannot  be  done.  General  dis 
tress,  certain,  wide-spread,  inevitable  ruin  must  be  the  conse 
quences  of  an  attempt  to  enforce  the  payment.  Depression  in 
the  value  of  all  property,  sheriff's  sales  and  sacrifices — bankrupt 
cy,  must  necessarily  ensue;  and,  with  them,  relief  laws,  paper 
money,  a  prostration  of  the  courts  of  justice,  evils  from  which  we 
have  just  emerged,  must  again,  with  all  their  train  of  afflictions, 
revisit  our  country.  But  it  is  argued  by  the  gentleman  from  Ten 
nessee  (Mr.  White)  that  similar  predictions  were  made,  without 
being  realized,  from  the  downfall  of  the  old  bank  of  the  United 
States.  It  is,  however,  to  be  recollected,  that  the  old  bank  did 
not  possess  one-third  of  the  capital  of  the  present ;  that  it  had  but 
one  office  west  of  the  mountains,  whilst  the  present  has  nine ;  and 
that  it  had  little  or  no  debt  due  to  it  in  that  quarter,  whilst  the 
present  bank  has  thirty  millions.  The  war,  too,  which  shortly 
followed  the  downfall  of  the  old  bank,  and  the  suspension  of  spe 
cie  payments,  which  soon  followed  the  war,  prevented  the  injury 
apprehended  from  the  discontinuance  of  the  old  bank. 

The  same  gentleman  further  argues  that  the  day  of  payment 
must  come  ;  and  he  asks  when,  better  than  now  ?  Is  it  to  be  in 
definitely  postponed;  is  the  charter  of  the  present  bank  to  be  per 
petual?  Why,  Mr.  President,  all  things — governments,  repub 
lics,  empires,  laws,  human  life — doubtless  are  to  have  an  end ; 
but  shall  we  therefore  accelerate  their  termination  ?  The  west 
is  now  young,  wants  capital,  and  its  vast  resources,  needing 
nourishment,  are  daily  developing.  By  and  by,  it  will  accumu 
late  wealth  from  its  industry  and  enterprise,  and  possess  its  sur 
plus  capital.  The  charter  is  not  made  perpetual,  because  it  is 
wrong  to  bind  posterity  perpetually.  At  the  end  of  the  term  lim 
ited  for  its  renewal,  posterity  will  have  the  power  of  determining 
for  itself  whether  the  bank  shall  then  be  wound  up,  or  prolonged 
another  term.  And  that  question  may  be  decided,  as  it  now 
ought  to  be,  by  a  consideration  of  the  interests  of  all  parts  of  the 


214      ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO. 

Union,  the  west  among  the  rest.     Sufficient  for  the  day  is  She 

The  President  tells  us  that,  if  the  executive  had  been  called 
upon  to  furnish  the  project  of  a  bank,  the  duty  would  have  been 
cheerfully  performed  ;  and  he  states  that  a  bank,  competent  to  all 
the  duties  which  may  be  required  by  the  government,  might  bo 
so  organized  as  not  to  infringe  on  our  own  delegated  powers,  or 
the  reserved  rights  of  the  states.  The  President  is  a  co-ordinate 
branch  of  the  legislative  department.  As  such,  bills  which  have 
f't  I  passed  both  houses  of  Congress,  are  presented  to  him  for  his  ap 
proval  or  rejection.  The  idea  of  going  to  the  President  for  the 
project  of  a  law,  is  totally  now  in  the  practice,  and  utterly  con 
trary  to  the  theory  of  the  government.  What  should  we  think 
of  the  senate  calling  upon  the  house,  or  the  house  upon  the  sen 
ate,  for  the  project  of  a  law  ? 

In  France,  the  king  possessed  the  initiative  of  all  laws,  and 
none  could  pass  without  its  having  been  previously  presented  to 
one  of  the  chambers  by  the  crown,  through  the  ministers. 
the  President  wish  to  introduce  the  initiative  here?  Are  the 
powers  of  recommendation,  and  that  of  veto,  not  sufficient ! 
Must  all  legislation,  in  its  commencement  and  in  its  termination. 
concentrated  the  President?  When  we  shall  have  reached  that 
state  of  thino-s  the  election  and  annual  sessions  of  Congress  wilt 
be  an  uselesl  charge  upon  the  people,  and  the  whole  business  of 
government  may  be  economically  conducted  by  ukases  and  de 


crees. 


crets.  .  ..       .   . 

Congress  does  sometimes  receive  the  suggestions  and  opinions 
of  the°heads  of  department,  as  to  new  laws.  And,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  this  session,  in  his  annual  report,  the  Secretary  oi 
the  Treasury  stated  his  reasons  at  large,  riot  merely  in  favor  oi 
a  bank  but  in  support  of  the  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  exist 
ing  bank.  Who  could  have  believed  that  that  responsible  officer 
was  communicating  to  Congress  opinions  directly  adverse  to 
those  entertained  by  the  President  himself?  When  before  has 
it  happened,  that  the  head  of  a  department  recommended  the 
passage  of  a  law  which,  being  accordingly  passed  and  presented 
to  the  President,  is  subjected  to  his  veto  ?  What  sort  of  a  bank 
it  is  with  a  project  of  which  the  President  would  have  deigned 
to  furnish  Congress,  if  they  had  applied  to  him,  he  has  not  sta 
ted  In  the  absence  of  such  statement,  we  can  only  conjecture 
that  it  is  his  famous  treasury  bank,  formerly  recommended  by 
him,  from  which  the  people  have  recoiled  with  the  instinctive 
horror  excited  by  the  approach  of  the  cholera. 

The  message  states,  that  "  an  investigation  unwillingly  conce 
ded,  and  so  restricted  in. time  as  necessarily  to  make  it  incomplete 
and  unsatisfactory,  discloses  enough  to  excite  suspicion  and 
alarm."  As  there  is  no  prospect  of  the  passage  oi  this  bill,  tne 
President's  objections  notwithstanding,  by  a  constitutional  ma- 
(JJ  iority  of  two-thirds,  it  can  never  reach  the  house  ol  representa 
tives  The  members  of  that  house,  and  especially  its  distinguish 


ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO.      215 

cd  chairman  of  the  committee  of  ways  and  means,  who  reported 
the  bill,  are  therefore  cut  off  from  all  opportunity  of  defending 
themselves.  Under  these  circumstances,  allow  me  to  ask  how 
the  President  has  ascertained  that  the  investigation  was  unwil 
lingly  conceded  ?  I  have  understood  directly  the  contrary;  and 
that  the  chairman,  already  referred  to,  as  well  as  other  members 
m  favor  of  the  renewal  of  the  charter,  promptly  consented  to  and 
•voted  for  the  investigation.  And  we  all  know  that  those  in  sup 
port  of  the  renewal  could  have  prevented  the  investigation,  and 
that  they  did  not.  But  suspicion  and  alarm  have  been  excited  ! 
SUSPICION  AND  ALARM  !  Against  whom  is  this  suspicion?  The 
house,  or  the  bank,  or  both  ? 

Mr.  President,  I  protest  against  the  right  of  any  Chief  Magis 
trate  to  come  into  either  house  of  Congress,  and  scrutinize  the 
motives  of  its  members  ;  to  examine  whether  a  measure  has  been 
passed  with  promptitude  or  repugnance ;  and  to  pronounce  upon 
the  willingness  or  unwillingness  with  which  it  has  been  adopted 
or  rejected.  It  is  an  interference  in  concerns  which  partake  of  a 
domestic  nature.  The  official  and  constitutional  relations  be 
tween  the  President  and  the  two  houses  of  Congress  subsist  with 
them  as  organized  bodies.  His  action  is  confined  to  their  con 
summated  proceedings,  and  does  not  extend  to  measures  in  their 
incipient  stages,  during  their  progress  through  the  houses,  nor  to 
the  motives  by  which  they  are  actuated. 

There  are  some  parts  of  this  message  that  ought  to  excite  deep 

firm  •  finn    lHr>t  ^c"r>rir»i«^llTf  ir\  ^irKi  ^.K    +K  ^    T> "  J  _  — 


0  -0-t.  public  omcer,  wno  takes  an  oath  to  sup 
port  the  constitution,  swears  that  he  will  support  it  as  he  under 
stands  it,  and  not  as  it  is  understood  by  others."  *  *  *  «  The 
opinion  of  the  judges  has  no  more  authority  over  Congress  than 
the  opinion  of  Congress  has  over  the  judges ;  and,  on  lhat  point 
the  President  is  independent  of  both."  Now,  Mr.  President/1 
conceive  with  great  deference,  that  the  President  has  mistaken 
the  purport  of  the  oath  to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  No  one  swears  to  supporj;  it  as  he  understands  it  but  to 
support  it  simply  as  it  is  in  truth  ?  All  men  are  bound  to  obey 
the  laws,  of  which  the  constitution  is  the  supreme;  but  must  they 
obey  them  as  they  are,  or  as  they  understand  them?  If  the  obli 
gation  of  obedience  is  limited  and  controlled  by  the  measure  of 
miormation ;  in  other  words,  if  the  party  is  bound  to  obey  the 
constitution  only  as  he  understands  it,  what  would  be  the  conse 
quence  ?  The  judge  of  an  inferior  court  would  disobey  the  man 
date  of  a  superior  tribunal,  because  it  was  not  in  conformity  to 
the  constitution,  as  he  understands  it;  a  custom  house  officer 
would  disobey  a  circular  from  the  treasury  department  because 
contrary  to  the  constitution,  as  he  understands  it ;  an  American 
minister  would  disregard  an  instruction  from  the  President  com 
municated  through  the  department  of  state,  because  not  agreea 
ble  to  the  constitution,  as  he  understands  it;  and  a  subordinate 


216      ON  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  VETO. 

officer  in  the  army  or  navy  would  violate  the  orders  of  his  supe~ 
rior,  because  they  were  not  in  accordance  with  the  constitution, 
as  he  understands  it.  We  should  have  nothing  settled,  nothing 
stable,  nothing  fixed.  There  would  be  general  disorder  and 
confusion  throughout  every  branch  of  administration,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest  officers — universal  nullification.  For  what 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  President  but  that  of  South  Carolina  ap 
plied  throughout  the  Union  ?  The  President  independent  both 
of  Congress  and  the  Supreme  Court !  Only  bound  to  execute 
the  laws  of  the  one  and  the  decisions  of  the  other  as  far  as  they 
conform  to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  he  understands 
it  !  Then  it  should  be  the  duty  of  every  President,  on  his  instal 
lation  into  office,  to  carefully  examine  all  the  acts  in  the  statute 
book,  approved  by  his  predecessors,  and  mark  out  those  which 
he  was  resolved  not  to  execute,  and  to  which  he  meant  to  apply 
this  new  species  of  veto,  because  they  were  repugnant  to  the 
constitution,  as  he  understands  it.  And,  after  the  expiration  of 
every  term  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  should  send  for  the  record 
of  its  decisions,  and  discriminate  between  those  which  he  would, 
and  those  which  he  would  not  execute,  because  they  were  or 
were  not  agreeable  to  the  constitution,  as  he  understands  it. 

There  is  another  constitutional  doctrine  contained  in  the  mes 
sage,  which  is  entirely  new  to  me.  It  asserts  that  "the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  have  no  consitutional  power  to  pur 
chase  lands  within  the  States,"  except  "for  the  erection  of  forts. 
magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards,  and  other  needful  buildings;" 
and,  even  for  these  objects,  only  "by  the  consent  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  the  State  in  which  the  same  shall  be."  Now,  sir,  I  had 
supposed  that  the  right  of  Congress  to  purchase  lands  in  any 
State  was  incontestible:  and,  in  point  of  fact,  it  probably  at  this 
moment  owns  land  in  every  State  of  the  Union,  purchased  for 
taxes,  or  as  a  judgment  or  mortgage  creditor.  And  there  arc 
various  acts  of  Congress  which  regulate  the  purchase  and  trans 
fer  of  such  lands.  The  advisers  of  the  President  have  con 
founded  the  faculty  of  purchasing  lands  with  the  exercise  of 
exclusive  jurisdiction,  which  is  restricted  by  the  constitution  to 
the  forts  and  other  buildings  described. 

I  The  message  presents  some  striking  instances  of  discrepancy. 
1st.  It  contests  the  right  to  establish  one  bank,  and  objects  to 
the  bill  that  it  limits  and  restrains  the  power  of  Congress  to 
establish  several.  2d.  It  urges  that  the  bill  does  not  recognize 
the  power  of  State  taxation  generally;  and  complains  that  facili 
ties  are  afforded  to  the  exercise  of  that  power,  in  respect  to  the 
stock  held  by  individuals.  3d.  It  objects  that  any  bonus  is  taken, 
<  and  insists  that  not  enough  is  demanded.  And  4th.  It  complains 
that  foreigners  have  too  much  influence,  and  that  stock  trans 
ferred  loses  the  privilege  of  representation  in  the  elections  of  the 
bank,  which,  if  it  were  retained,  would  give  them  more^ 

Mr.  President,  we  are  about  to  close  one  of  the  longest  and 
most  arduous  sessions  of  Congress  under  the  present  constitu- 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  217 

tion;  and,  when  we  return  among  our  constituents,  what  ac 
count  of  the  operations  of  their  government  shall  we  be  bound 
to  communicate?  We  shall  be  compelled  to  say.  that  the  Su 
preme  Court  is  paralyzed,  and  the  missionaries  retained  in 
prison  in  contempt  of  its  authority,  and  in  defiance  of  numerous 
treaties  and  laws  of  the  United  States;  that  the  executive, 
through  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  sent  to  Congress  a 
tariff  bill  which  would  have  destroyed  numerous  branches  of  our 
domestic  industry,  and  to  the  final  destruction  of  all;  that  the 
veto  has  been  applied  to  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  our  only 
reliance  for  a  sound  and  uniform  currency;  that  the  Senate  has 
been  violently  attacked  for  the  exercise  of  a  clear  constitutional 
power ;  that  the  House  of  Representatives  has  been  unnecessa 
rily  assailed;  and  that  the  President  has  promulgated  a  rule  ol 
action  for  those  who  have  taken  the  oath  to  support  the  consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  that  must,  if  there  be  practical  con 
formity  to  it,  introduce  general  nullification,  and  end  in  the  abso 
lute  subversion  of  the  government. 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

The  subject  before  the  Senate  being  the  bill  to  apj 
for  a  limited  time,  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  of  the  Unitec 
States- 
Mr.  Clay  rose  and  said,  that  in  rising  to  address  the  Senate, 
he  owed,  in  the  first  place,  the  expression  of  his  hearty  thanks 
to  the  majority,  by  whose  vote,  just  given,  he  was  indulged  in 
occupying  the  floor  on  this  most  important  question.  He  was 
happy  to  see  that  the  days  when  the  sedition  acts  and  gag  laws 
were  in  force,  and  when  screws  were  applied  for  the  suppression 
of  the  freedom  of  speech  and  debate,  were  not  yet  to  return; 
and  that,  when  the  consideration  of  a  great  question  had  been 
specially  assigned  to  a  particular  day,  it  was  not  allowed  to  be 
arrested  and  thrust  aside  by  any  unexpected  and  unprecedented 
parliamentary  manosuvre.  The  decision  of  the  majority  demon 
strated  that  feelings  of  liberality  and  courtesy  and  kindness  still 
prevailed  in  the  Senate ;  and  that  they  would  be  extended  even 
to  one  of  the  humblest  members  of  the  body;  for  such,  he  assured 
the  Senate,  he  felt  himself  to  be.* 

*  This  subject  had  been  set  down  for  this  day.  It  was  eenerally  expected,  j'n 
and  out  of  the  Senate,  that  it  would  be  taken  up,  and  that  Mr.  Clay  would  address 
the  Senate?  The  members  were  generally  in  their  seats,  and  the  gallery  and  lobbies 
crowded.  At  the  customary  hour,  he  moved  that  the  subject  pending  should  be  laid 
on  the  table,  to  take. up  the  land  bill.  It  was  ordered  accordingly.  At  this  point 
of  time  Mr.  Forsyth  made  a  motion,  supported  by  Mr.  Tazewell,  that  the  Senate 
proceed  to  executive  tousJness.  The  motion  was  overruled. 

19 


218  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  again  to  allude  to  the  extraordinary  refe 
rence  of  the  subject  of  the  public  lands  to  the  committee  of 
manufactures.  I  have  nothing,  (said  Mr.  Clay,)  to  do  with  the 
motives  of  honorable  Senators  who  composed  the  majority  by 
which  that  reference  was  ordered.  The  decorum  proper  in  this 
hall  obliges  me  to  consider  their  motives  to  have  been  pure  and 
patriotic.  But  still  I  must  be  permitted  to  regard  the  proceeding 
as  very  unusual.  The  Senate  has  a  standing  committee  on  the 
public  lands,  appointed  under  long  established  rules.  The  mem 
bers  of  that  committee  are  presumed  to  be  well  acquainted  with 
the  subject;  they  have  some  of  them  occupied  the  same  station 
for  many  years,  are  well  versed  in  the  whole  legislation  on  the 
public  lands,  and  familiar  with  every  branch  of  it — and  four  out 
of  five  of  them  come  from  the  new  States.  Yet,  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  all  these  circumstances,  a  reference  was  ordered 
by  a  majority  of  the  Senate  to  the  committee  on  manufactures — 
a  committee  than  which  there  was  not  another  standing  com 
mittee  of  the  Senate  whose  prescribed  duties  were  more  incon 
gruous  with  the  public  domain.  It  happened,  in  the  constitution 
of  the  committee  of  manufactures,  that  there  was  not  a  solitary 
Senator  from  the  new  States,  and  but  one  from  any  western 
State.  We  had  earnestly  protested  against  the  reference,  and 
insisted  upon  its  impropriety;  but  we  were  overruled  by  the 
majority,  including  a  majority  of  Senators  from  the  new  States. 
I  will  not  attempt  an  expression  of  the  feelings  excited  in  my 
mind  on  that  occasion.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  intention 
of  honorable  Senators,  I  could  not  be  insensible  to  the  embar 
rassment  in  which  the  committee  of  manufactures  was  placed, 
and  especially  myself.  Although  any  other  member  of  that 
committee  would  have  rendered  himself,  with  appropriate  re 
searches  and  proper  time,  more  competent  than  I  was  to  under 
stand  the  subject  of  the  public  lands,  it  was  known  that,  from 
my  local  position,  I  alone  was  supposed  to  have  any  particular 
knowledge  of  them.  Whatever  emanated  from  the  committee 
was  likely,  therefore,  to  be  ascribed  to  me.  If  the  committee 
should  propose  a  me.asure  of  great  liberality  towards  the  new 
States,  the  old  States  might  complain.  If  the  measure  should 
seem  to  lean  towards  the  old  States,  the  new  might  be  dissatis 
fied.  And,  if  it  inclined  to  neither  class  of  States,  but  recom 
mended  a  plan  according  to  which  there  would  be  distributed 
impartial  justice  among  all  the  States,  it  was  far  from  certain 
that  any  would  be  pleased. 

Without  venturing  to  attribute  to  honorable  Senators  the  pur 
pose  of  producing  this  personal  embarrassment,  I  felt  it,  as  a 
necessary  consepuence  of  their  act,  just  as  much  as  if  it  had 
been  in  their  contemplation.  Nevertheless,  the  committee  of 
manufactures  cheerfully  entered  upon  the  duty  which,  against 
its  will,  was  thus  assigned  to  it  by  the  Senate.  And,  for  the 
causes  already  noticed,  that  of  preparing  a  report  arid  suggest 
ing  some  measure  embracing  the  whole  subject,  devolved  in  the 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  219 

committee  upon  me.  The  general  features  of  our  land  system 
were  strongly  impressed  on  my  memory;  but  I  found  it  neces- 
eary  to  re-examine  some  of  the  treaties,  deeds  of  cession  and 
laws  which  related  to  the  acquisition  and  administratin  of  the 
public  lands;  and  then  to  think  of,  and,  if  possible,  strike  out 
some  project,  which,  without  inflicting  injury  upon  any  of  the 
States,  might  deal  equally  and  justly  with  all  of  them.  The 
report  and  bill,  submitted  to  the  Senate,  after  having  been  pre 
viously  sanctioned  by  a  majority  of  the  committee,  were  the 
results  of  this  consideration.  The  report,  with  the  exception 
of  the  principle  of  distribution  which  concludes  it,  obtained  the 
unanimous  concurrence  of  the  committee  of  manufactures. 

This  report  and  bill  were  hardly  read  in  the  Senate  before 
they  were  violently  denounced.  And  they  were  not  considered 
by  the  Senate  before  a  proposition  was  made  to  refer  the  report 
to  that  very  committee  of  the  public  lands  to  which,  in  the  first 
instance,  I  contended  the  subject  ought  to  have  been  assigned. 
It  was  in  vain  that  we  remonstrated  against  such  a  proceeding, 
as  unprecedented,  as  implying  unmerited  censure  on  the  com 
mittee  of  manufactures,  and  as  leading  to  interminable  referen 
ces;  for  what  more  reason  could  there  be  to  refer  the  report  of 
the  committee  of  manufactures  to  the  land  committee,  than 
would  exist  for  a  subsequent  reference  of  the  report  of  this  com 
mittee,  when  made,  to  some  third  committee,  and  so  on  in  an 
endless  circle?  In  spite  of  all  our  remonstrances,  the  same  ma 
jority,  with  but  little  if  any  variation,  which  had  originally  re 
solved  to  refer  the  subject  to  the  committee  of  manufactures, 
now  determined  to  commit  its  bill  to  the  land  committee.  And 
this  not  only  without  particular  examination  into  the  merits  of 
that  bill,  but  without  the  avowal  of  any  specific  amendment 
which  was  deemed  necessary  !  The  committee  of  public  lands, 
after  the  lapse  of  some  days,  presented  a  report,  and  recom 
mended  a  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands  immediately, 
to  one  dollar  per  acre,  and  eventually  to  50  cents  per  acre ;  and 
the  grant  to  the  new  states  of  fifteen  per  cent,  on  the  nett  pro 
ceeds  of  the  sales,  instead  of  ten,  as  proposed  by  the  committee  of 
manufactures,  and  nothing  to  the  old  states. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  I  desire,  at  this  time,  to  make  a  few 
observations  in  illustration  of  the  original  report;  to  supply  some 
omissions  in  its  compositon  ;  to  say  something  as  to  the  power 
and  rights  of  the  general  government  over  the  public  domain ; 
to  submit  a  few  remarks  on  the  counter  report ;  and  to  examine 
the  assumptions  which  it  contained,  and  the  principles  on  which 
it  is  founded. 

No  subject  which  had  presented  itself  to  the  present  or  per 
haps  any  preceding  Congress,  was  of  greater  magnitude  than 
that  of  the  public  lands.  There  was  another,  indeed,  which 
possessed  a  more  exciting  and  absorbing  interest— but  the  ex 
citement  was  happily  but  temporary  in  its  nature.  Long  after 
we  shall  cease  to  be  agitated  by  the  tarifi;  ages  after  our  maou- 


220  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

factures  shall  have  acquired  a  stability  and  perfection  whicn 
will  enable  them  successfully  to  cope  with  the  manufactures  of 
any  other  country,  the  public  lands  will  remain  a  subject  of 
deep  arid  enduring  interest.  In  whatever  view  we  contem 
plate  them,  there  is  no  question  of  such  vast  importance.  Aa 
to  their  extent,  there  is  public  land  enough  to  found  an  empire ; 
stretching  across  th«  immense  continent,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  ocean,  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  northwes 
tern  lakes,  the  quantity  according  to  official  surveys  and  estim 
ates,  amounting  to  the  prodigious  sum  of  one  billion  and  eighty 
millions  of  acres  !  As  to  the  duration  of  the  interest  regarded  as 
a  source  of  comfort  to  our  people,  and  of  public  income — during 
the  last  year,  when  the  greatest  quantity  was  sold  that  ever  in 
one  year,  had  been  previously  sold,  it  amounted  to  less  than 
three  millions  of  acres,  producing  three  millions  and  a  half  of 
dollars.  Assuming  that  year  as  affording  the  standard  rate 
at  which  the  lands  will  be  annually  sold,  it  would  require 
three  hundred  years  to  dispose  of  them.  But  the  sales  will 
probably  be  accelerated  from  increased  population  and  other 
causes.  We  may  safely,  however,  anticipate  that  long,  if  not 
centuries  after  the  present  day,  the  representatives  of  our  chil 
dren's  children  may  be  deliberating  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  on 
lows  relating  to  the  public  lands. 

The  subject  in  other  points  of  view,  challenged  the  fullest 
attention  of  an  American  statesman.  If  there  were  any  one 
circumstance  more  than  all  others  which  distinguished  our  happy 
condition  from  that  of  the  nations  of  the  old  world,  it  was  the 
possession  of  this  vast  national  property,  and  the  resources 
which  it  afforded  to  our  people  and  our  government.  No  Eu 
ropean  nation,  (possibly  with  the  exception  of  Russia,)  com 
manded  such  an  ample  resource.  With  respect  to  the  other 
republics  of  this  continent,  we  have  no  information  that  any  of 
them  have  yet  adopted  a  regular  system  of  previous  survey  and 
subsequent  sale  of  their  wild  lands,  in  convenient  tracts,  well  de 
fined,  and  adapted  to  the  wants  of  all.  On  the  contrary,  the 
probability  is  that  they  adhere  to  the  ruinous  and  mad  system  of 
old  Spain,  according  to  which  large  unsurveyed  districts  are 
granted  to  favorite  individuals,  prejudicial  to  them,  who  often 
eink  under  the  incumbrance,  and  die  in  poverty,  whilst  the  regu 
lar  current  of  emigration  is  checked  and  diverted  from  its  legiti- 
mate  channels. 

And  if  there  be  in  the  operations  of  this  government,  one  which 
more  than  any  other  displays  consummate  wisdom  and  states 
manship,  it  is  that  system  by  which  the  public  lands  have  been  so 
successfully  administered.  We  should  pause,  solemnly  pause, 
before  we  subvert  it.  We  should  touch  it  hesitatingly,  and  with 
the  gentlest  hand.  The  prudent  management  of  the  public  lands, 
in  the  hands  of  the  general  government,  will  be  more  manifest 
by  contrasting  it  with  that  of  several  of  the  states,  which  had 
the  disposal  of  large  bodies  of  waste  lands.  Virginia  possessed 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  221 

an  ample  domain  west  of  the  mountains,  and  in  the  present 
state  of  Kentucky,  over  and  above  her  munificent  cession  to 
the  general  government.  Pressed  for  pecuniary  means,  by  the 
revolutionary  war,  she  brought  her  wild  lands,  during  its  pro 
gress,  into  market,  receiving  payment  in  paper  money.  There 
were  no  previous  surveys  of  the  waste  lands — no  townships,  no 
sections,  no  official  definition  or  description  of  tracts.  Each 
purchaser  made  his  own  location,  describing  the  land  bought  as 
he  thought  proper.  These  locations  or  descriptions  were  often 
vague  and  uncertain.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  same 
tract  was  not  unfrequently  entered  various  times  by  different 
purchasers,  so  as  to  be  literally  shingled  over  with  conflicting 
claims.  The  state  perhaps  sold  in  this  way,  much  more  land 
than  it  was  entitled  to,  but  then  it  received  nothing  in  return  that 
was  valuable;  whilst  the  purchasers  in  consequence  of  the 
clashing  and  interference  between  their  rights,  were  exposed  to 
tedious,  vexatious,  and  ruinous  litigation.  Kentucky  long  and 
severely  suffered  from  this  cause ;  and  is  just  emerging  from  the 
troubles  brought  upon  her  by  improvident  land  legislation. 
Western  Virginia  has  also  suffered  greatly,  though  not  to  the 
same  extent. 

The  state  of  Georgia  had  large  bodies  of  waste  lands,  which 
she  disposed  of  in  a  manner  satisfactory  no  doubt  to  herself, 
but  astonishing  to  every  one  out  of  that  commonwealth.  Ac 
cording  to  her  system,  waste  lands  are  distributed  in  lotteries 
among  the  people  of  the  state,  in  conformity  with  the  enact 
ments  of  the  legislature.  And  when  one  district  of  country  is 
disposed  of,  as  there  are  many  who  do  not  draw  prizes,  the  un 
successful  call  out  for  fresh  distributions.  These  are  made, 
from  time  to  time,  as  lands  are  acquired  from  the  Indians;  and 
hence  one  of  the  causes  of  the  avidity  with  which  the  Indian 
lands  are  sought.  It  is  manifest  that  neither  the  present  gene 
ration  nor  posterity  can  derive  much  advantage  from  this  mode 
of  alienating  public  lands.  On  the  contrary,  I  should  think,  it 
cannot  fail  to  engender  speculation  and  a  spirit  of  gambling. 

The  state  of  Kentucky,  in  virtue  of  a  compact  with  Virginia, 
acquired  a  right  to  a  quantity  of  public  laads  south  of  Green 
river.  Neglecting  to  profit  by  the  unfortunate  example  of  the 
parent  state,  she  did  not  order  the  country  to  be  surveyed  pre 
vious  to  its  being  offered  to  purchasers.  Seduced  by  some  of 
those  wild  land  projects,  of  which  at  all  times  there  have  been 
some  afloat,  and  which  hitherto  the  general  government  alone 
has  firmly  resisted,  she  was  tempted  to  offer  her  waste  lands  to 
settlers,  at  different  prices,  under  the  name  of  head-rights  or 
pre-emptions.  As  the  laws,  like  most  legislation  upon  such  sub 
jects,  were  somewhat  loosely  worded,  the  keen  eye  of  the  specu 
lator  soon  discerned  the  defects,  and  he  took  advantage  of  them. 
Instances  had  occurred  of  masters  obtaining  certificates  of 
head  rights  in  the  name  of  their  slaves,  and  thus  securing  th« 
19* 


922  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

land,  in  contravention  of  the  intention  of  the  legislature.  Slaves' 
generally  have  but  one  name,  being  called  Tom,  Jack,  Dick,  or 
Harry.  To  conceal  the  fraud,  the  owner  would  add  Black,  or 
some  other  cognomination,  so  that  the  certificate  would  read  Tom 
Black,  Jack  Black,  &c.  The  gentleman  from  Tennessee,  (Mr. 
Grundy,)  will  remember,  some  twenty-odd  years  ago,  when 
we  were  both  members  of  the  Kentucky  legislature,  that  I  took 
occasion  to  animadvert  upon  these  fraudulent  practices,  and 
observed  that  when  the  names  came  to  be  alphabeted,  the  truth 
would  be  told,  whatever  might  be  the  language  of  the  record  ; 
for  the  alphabet  would  read  Black  Tom,  Black  Harry,  &c.  Ken 
tucky  realised  more  in  her  treasury  than  the  parent  state  had 
done,  considering  that  she  had  but  a  remnant  of  public  lands, 
and  she  added  somewhat  to  her  population.  But  they  were  far 
less  available  than  they  would  have  been  under  a  system  of  pre 
vious  survey  and  regular  sale. 

These  observations  in  respect  to  the  course  of  the  respectable 
states  referred  to,  in  relation  to  their  public  lands,  are  not 
prompted  by  any  unkind  feelings  towards  them,  but  to  show  the 
superiority  of  the  land  system  of  the  United  States. 

Under  the  system  of  the  general  government,  the  wisdom  of 
which,  in  some  respects,  is  admitted  even  by  the  report  of  the 
land  committee,  the  country  subject  to  its  operation,  beyond  the 
Alleghany  mountains,  has  rapidly  advanced  in  population,  im 
provement  and  prosperity.  The  example  of  the  state  of  Ohio 
was  emphatically  relied  on  by  the  report  of  the  committee  of 
manufactures — its  million  of  people,  its  canals,  and  other  im* 
provemenls,  its  flourishing  towns,  its  highly  cultivated  fields,  all 
put  there  within  less  than  forty  years.  To  weaken  the  force  of 
this  example,  the  land  committee  deny  that  the  population  of 
that  state  is  principally  settled  upon  public  lands  derived  from 
the  general  government.  But,  Mr.  President,  with  great  defer 
ence  to  that  committee,  I  must  say  that  it  labors  under  misappre 
hension.  Three-fourths,  if  not  four-fifths  of  the  population  of 
that  state,  are  settled  upon  public  lands  purchased  from  the 
United  States',  and  they  are  the  most  flourishing  parts  of  the 
state.  For  the  correctness  of  this  statement  I  appeal  to  my 
friend  from  Ohio,  (Mr.  Ewing,)  near  me.  He  knows  as  well  as 
I  do,  that  the  rich  valleys  of  the  Miami  of  Ohio,  and  the  Mau- 
mee  of  the  Lake,  the  Scioto  and  the  Muskingum,  are  principally 
settled  by  persons  deriving  titles  to  their  lands  from  the  United 
States. 

In  a  national  point  of  view,  one  of  the  greatest  advantages 
which  these  public  lands  in  the  west,  and  this  system  of  selling 
them,  affords,  13  the  resource  which  they  present  against  pres 
sure  and  want,  in  other  parts  of  the  Union,  from  the  vocations 
of  society  being  too  closely  filled,  and  too  much  crowded.  They 
constantly  tend  to  sustain  the  j)rice  of  labor,  by  the  opportunity 
which  they  offer  of  the  acquisition  of  fertile  land  at  a  moderate 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

price,  and  the  consequent  temptation  to  emigrate  from  those 
parts  of  the  Union  where  labor  may  he  badly  rewarded. 

The  progress  of  settlement,  and  the  improvement  in  the  for 
tunes  and  condition  of  individuals,  under  the  operation  of  this 
beneficent  system,  are  as  simple  as  they  are  manifest.  Pioneers 
of  a  more  adventurous  character,  advancing  before  the  tide  of 
emigration,  penetrate  into  the  uninhabited  regions  of  the  west 
They  apply  the  axe  to  the  forest,  which  falls  before  them,  or  the 
plough  to  the  prairie,  deeply  sinking  its  share  in  the  unbroken 
wild  grasses  in  which  it  abounds.  They  build  houses,  plant 
orchards,  enclose  fields,  cultivate  the  earth,  and  rear  up  families 
around  them.  Meantime,  the  tide  of  emigration  flows  upon 
them,  their  improved  farms  rise  in  value,  a  demand  for  them 
takes  place,  they  sell  to  the  new  comers,  at  a  great  advance, 
and  proceed  farther  west,  with  ample  means  to  purchase  from 
government,  at  reasonable  prices,  sufficient  land  for  all  the 
members  of  their  families.  Another  and  another  tide  succeeds, 
the  first  pushing  on  westwardly  the  previous  settlers,  who,  in 
their  turn,  sell  out  their  farms,  constantly  augmenting  in  price, 
until  they  arrive  at  a  fixed  and  stationary  value.  In  this  way, 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  are  daily  improving  their  cir 
cumstances,  and  bettering  their  condition.  I  have  often  wit 
nessed  this  gratifying  progress.  On  the  same  farm  you  may 
sometimes  behold,  standing  together,  the  first  rude  cabin  of 
round  and  unhewn  logs,  and  wooden  chimneys,  the  hewed  log 
house,  chinked  and  shingled,  with  stone  or  brick  chimneys  ;  and 
lastly  the  comfortable  brick  or  stone  dwelling,  each  denoting 
the  different  occupants  of  the  farm,  or  the  several  stages  of  the 
condition  of  the  same  occupant.  What  other  nation  "can  boast 
of  such  an  outlet  for  its  increasing  population,  such  bountiful 
means  of  promoting  their  prosperity,  and  securing  their  indepen 
dence? 

To  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States,  and  especially  to 
the  existing  system  by  which  they  are  distributed  with  so  much 
regularity  and  equity,  are  we  indebted  for  these  signal  benefits 
in  our  national  condition.  And  every  consideration  of  duty,  to 
ourselves,  and  to  posterity,  enjoins  that  we  should  abstain  from 
the  adoption  of  any  wild  project  that  would  cast  away  this  vast 
national  property,  holden  by  the  general  government  in  sacred 
trust  for  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States,  and  forbids  that 
we  should  rashly  touch  a  system  which  has  been  so  successfully 
tested  by  experience. 

It  has  been  only  within  a  few  years  that  restless  men  have 
thrown  before  the  public  their  visionary  plans  for  squandering 
the  public  domain.  With  the  existing  laws  the  great  state  of 
the  west  is  satisfied  and  contented.  She  has  felt  their  benefit, 
and  grown  great  and  powerful  under  their  sway.  She  knows 
and  testifies  to  the  liberality  of  the  general  government  in  the 
administration  of  the  public  lands,  extended  alike  to  her  and  to 
the  other  new  states.  There  are  no  petitions  jfrom,  no  mov«- 


224  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

ments  in  Ohio,  proposing  vital  and  radical  changes  in  the  sys 
tem.  During  the  long  period,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
in  the  senate,  that  her  upright  and  unambitious  citizen,  the  first 
representative  of  that  state,  and  afterwards  successively  senator 
and  governor,  presided  over  the  committee  of  public  lands, 
we  heard  of  none  of  these  chimerical  schemes.  All  went  on 
emoothly,  and  quietly,  and  safely.  No  man,  in  the  sphere  with 
in  which  he  acted,  ever  commanded  or  deserved  the  implicit 
confidence  of  Congress  more  than  Jeremiah  Morrow.  There 
existed  a  perfect  persuasion  of  his  entire  impartiality  and  justice 
between  the  old  states  and  the  new.  A  few  artless  but  sensible 
words,  pronounced  in  his  plain  Scotch  Irish  dialect,  were  al 
ways  sufficient  to  ensure  the  passage  of  any  bill  or  resolution 
which  he  reported.  For  about  twenty-five  years,  there  was  no 
essential  change  in  the  system;  and  that  which  was  at  last 
made,  varying  the  price  of  the  public  lands  from  two  dollars,  at 
which  it  had  all  that  time  remained,  to  one  dollar  and  a  quarter, 
at  which  it  has  been  fixed  only  about  ten  or  twelve  years,  was 
founded  mainly  on  the  consideration  of  abolishing  the  previous 
credits. 

Assuming  the  duplication  of  our  population  in  terms  of  twen 
ty-five  years,  the  demand  for  waste  land,  at  the  end  of  every 
term,  will  at  least  be  double  what  it  was  at  the  commencement. 
But  the  ratio  of  the  increased  demand  will  be  much  greater  than 
the  increase  of  the  whole  population  of  the  United  States,  be 
cause  the  western  states  nearest  to,  or  including  the  public  lands, 
populate  much  more  rapidly  than  other  parts  of  the  Union ;  and 
it  will  be  from  them  that  the  greatest  current  of  emigration  will 
flow.  At  this  moment  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  are  the 
most  migrating  states  in  the  Union. 

To  supply  this  constantly  augmenting  demand,  the  policy, 
which  has  hitherto  characterised  the  general  government,  has 
been  highly  liberal  both  towards  individuals  and  the  new  states. 
Large  tracts,  far  surpassing  the  demand  of  purchasers,  in  every 
climate  and  situation,  adapted  to  the  wants  of  all  parts  of  the 
Union,  are  brought  into  the  market  at  moderate  prices,  the  gov 
ernment  having  sustained  all  the  expense  of  the  original  pur 
chase,  and  of  surveying,  marking,  and  dividing  the  land.  For 
fifty  dollars  any  poor  man  may  purchase  forty  acres  of  first  rate 
land ;  and  for  less  than  the  wages  of  one  year's  labor,  he  may 
buy  eighty  acres.  To  the  new  states  also  has  the  government 
been  liberal  and  generous  in  the  grants  for  schools  and  for  inter 
nal  improvements,  as  well  as  in  reducing  the  debt,  contracted  for 
the  purchase  of  lands,  by  the  citizens  of  those  states,  who  were 
tempted,  in  a  spirit  of  inordinate  speculation,  to  purchase  too 
much,  or  at  too  high  prices. 

Such  is  a  rapid  outline  of  this  invaluable  national  property — 
of  the  system  which  regulates  its  management  and  distribution, 
and  of  the  effects  of  that  system.  We  might  here  pause,  and  won 
der  that  there  should  be  a  disposition  with  any  to  waste  or  throw 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  225 

sway  this  great  resource,  or  to  abolish  a  system  which  has  been 
fraught  with  eo  many  manifest  advantages.  Nevertheless,  there 
are  such,  who,  impatient  with  the  slow  and  natural  operation  of 
wise  laws,  have  put  forth  various  pretensions  and  projects  con 
cerning  the  public  lands,  within  a  few  years  past.  One  of  these 
pretensions  is,  an  assumption  of  the  sovereign  right  of  the  new 
states  to  all  the  lands  within  their  respective  limits,  to  the  exclu 
sion  of  the  general  government,  and  to  the  exclusion  of  all  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  those  in  the  new  states  only  excep- 
ted.  It  is  my  purpose  now  to  trace  the  origin,  examine  the  na 
ture,  and  expose  the  injustice  of  this  pretension. 

This  pretension  may  be  fairly  ascribed  to  the  propositions  of 
the  gentleman  from  Missouri,  (Mr.  Benton,)  to  graduate  the  pub 
lic  lands,  to  reduce  the  price,  and  to  cede  the  "refuse  "  lands  (a 
term  which  I  believe  originated  with  him,)  to  the  states  within 
which  they  lie.  Prompted,  probably,  by  these  propositions,  a  late 
Governor  of  Illinois,  unwilling  to  be  outdone,  presented  an  elab 
orate  message  to  the  legislature  of  that  state,  in  which  he  grave 
ly  and  formally  asserted  the  right  of  that  state  to  all  the  land  of 
the  United  States,  comprehended  within  its  limits.  It  must  be 
allowed  that  the  Governor  was  a  most  impartial  judge,  and  the 
legislature  a  most  disinterested  tribunal,  to  decide  such  a  ques 
tion. 

The  senator  from  Missouri  was  chanting  most  sweetly  to  the 
tune,  "refuse  lands,"  "refuse  lands,"  "refuse  lands," on  the  Mis 
souri  side  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  soft  strains  of  his  music, 
having  caught  the  ear  of  his  excellency,  on  the  Illinois  side,  he 
joined  in  chorus,  and  struck  an  octave  higher.  The  senator  from 
Missouri  wished  only  to  pick  up  some  crumbs  which  fell  from 
Uncle  Sam's  table ;  but  the  Governor  resolved  to  grasp  the  whole 
loaf.  The  senator  modestly  claimed  only  an  old  smoked,  reject 
ed  joint  \  but  the  stomach  of  his  excellency  yearned  after  the 
whole  hog!  The  Governor  peeped  over  the  Mississippi  into 
Missouri,  and  saw  the  senator  leisurely  roaming  in  some  rich 
pastures,  on  bits  of  refuse  lands.  He  returned  to  Illinois,  and, 
springing  into  the  grand  prairie,  determined  to  claim  and  occupy 
it,  in  all  its  boundless  extent. 

Then  came  the  resolution  of  the  senator  from  Virginia,  (Mr. 
Tazewell,)  in  May,  1826,  in  the  following  words :  "Resolved, 
That  it  is  expedient  for  the  United  States  to  cede  and  surrender 
to  the  several  states,  within  whose  limits  the  same  may  be  situ 
ated,  all  the  right,  title,  and  interest,  of  the  United  States,  to  any 
lands  lying  and  being  within  the  boundaries  of  such  states,  res 
pectively,  upon  such  terms  and  conditions  as  may  be  consistent 
with  the  due  observance  of  the  public  faith,  and  with  the  general 
interest  of  the  United  States."  The  latter  words  rendered  the 
resolution  somewhat  ambiguous ;  but  still  it  contemplated  a  ces 
sion  and  surrender.  Subsequently  the  senator  from  Virginia 
proposed,  after  a  certain  time,  a  gratuitous  surrender  of  all  un* 


226  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

sold  lands,  to  be  applied  by  the  legislature,  in  support  of  educar 
tion  and  the  internal  improvement  of  the  state. 

[Here  Mr.  Tuzewell  conlroverted  the  statement.  Mr.  Clay 
called  to  the  secretary  to  hand  him  the  journal  of  April,  1828, 
which  he  held  up  to  the  senate,  and  read  from  it  the  following : 
"The  bill  to  graduate  the  price  of  ihe  public  lands,  to  make  do 
nations  thereof  to  actual  settlers,  and  to  cede  the  refuse  to  the 
states  in  which  they  lie,  being  under  consideration — 

"Mr.  Tazewell  moved  to  insert  the  following,  as  a  substitute: 
That  the  lands  which  shall  have  been  subject  to  sale  under  the 
provisions  of  this  act,  and  shall  remain  unsold  for  two  years,  af 
ter  having  been  offered  at  twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  shall  be, 
and  the  same,  is  ceded  to  the  state  in  which  the  same  may  lie,  to 
be  applied  by  the  legislature  thereof  in  support  of  education,  and 
the  internal  improvement  of  the  state."] 

Thus  it  appears  not  only  that  the  honorable  senator  proposed 
the  cession,  but  shewed  himself  the  friend  of  education  and  in 
ternal  improvements,  by  means  derived  from  the  general  govern 
ment.  For  this  liberal  disposition  on  his  part,  I  believe,  it  was 
that  the  state  of  Missouri  honored  a  new  county  with  his  name. 
If  he  had  carried  his  proposition,  that  state  might  well  have 
granted  a  principality  to  him. 

The  memorial  of  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  probably  produced 
by  the  message  of  the  Governor  already  noticed,  had  been  pre 
sented,  asserting  a  claim  to  the  public  lands.  And  it  seems  (al 
though  the  fact  had  escaped  my  recollection  until  I  was  remind 
ed  of  it  by  one  of  her  senators,  (Mr.  Hendricks,)  the  other  day,) 
that  the  legislature  of  Indiana  had  instructed  her  senators  to 
bring  forward  a  similar  claim.  At  the  last  session,  however,  of 
the  legislature  of  that  state,  resolutions  had  passed,  instructing 
her  delegation  to  obtain  from  the  general  government  cessions  of 
the  unappropriated  public  lands,  on  the  most  favorable  terms. — 
It  is  clear,  from  this  last  expression  of  the  will  of  that  legislature, 
that,  on  re-consideration,  it  believed  the  right  to  the  public  lands 
to  be  in  the  general  government,  and  not  in  the  state  of  Indiana. 
For,  if  they  did  not  belong  to  the  general  government,  it  had  no 
thing  to  cede ;  if  they  belonged  already  to  the  state,  no  cession 
was  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the  right  of  the  state. 

I  will  here  submit  a  passing  observation.  If  the  general  gov 
ernment  had  the  power  to  cede  the  public  lands  to  the  new  states 
for  particular  purposes,  and  on  prescribed  conditions,  its  power 
must  be  unquestionable  to  make  some  reservations,  for  similar 
purposes,  in  behalf  of  the  old  states.  Its  power  cannot  be  with 
out  limit  as  to  the  new  states,  and  circumscribed  and  restricted 
as  to  the  old.  Its  capacity  to  bestow  benefits  or  dispense  justice 
is  not  confined  to  the  new  states,  but  is  co-extensive  with  the 
•whole  Union.  It  may  grant  to  all,  or  it  can  grant  to  none.  And 
this  comprehensive  equity  is  not  only  in  conformity  with  the  spi 
rit  of  the  cessions  in  the  deeds  from  the  ceding  states,  but  is  ex.- 
pressly  enjoined  by  the  terms  of  those  deeds. 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  227 

is  the  probable  origin  of  the  pretension  -which  I  have 
been  tracing;  and  now  let  us  examine  its  nature  and  foundation. 
The  argument,  in  behalf  of  the  new  states,  is  founded  on  the  no 
tion,  that  as  the  old  states,  upon  coming  out  of  the  revolutionary 
war,  had  or  claimed  a  right  to  all  the  lands  within  their  respec 
tive  limits ;  and  as  the  new  states  have  been  admitted  into  the 
Union  on  the  same  footing  and  condition,  in  all  respects,  with  the 
old ;  therefore  they  are  entitled  to  all  the  waste  lands,  embraced 
within  their  boundaries.  But  the  argument  forgets  that  all  the 
revolutionary  states  had  not  waste  lands;  that  some  had  but  very 
little  and  others  none.  It  forgets  that  the  right  of  the  states  to 
the  waste  lands  within  their  limits  was  controverted ;  and  that  it 
was  insisted  that,  as  they  had  been  conquered  in  a  common  war, 
waged  with  common  means,  and  attended  with  general  sacrifi 
ces,  the  public  lands  should  be  held  for  the  common  benefit  of 
all  the  states.  It  forgets  that,  in  consequence  of  this  right  as 
serted  in  behalf  of  the  whole  Union,  the  states  that  contained  any 
large  bodies  of  waste  lands,  (and  Virginia,  particularly,  that  had 
the  most)  ceded  them  to  the  Union  for  the  equal  benefit  of  all  the 
etates.  It  forgets  that  the  very  equality,  which  is  the  basis  of 
the  argument,  would  be  totally  subverted  by  the  admission  of 
the  validity  of  the  pretension.  For  how  would  the  matter  then 
stand?  The  revolutionary  states  will  have  divested  themselves 
of  the  large  districts  of  vacant  lands  which  they  contained,  for 
the  common  benefit  of  all  the  states,  and  those  same  lands  will 
enure  to  the  benefit  of  the  new  states  exclusively.  There  will 
be,  on  the  supposition  of  the  validity  of  the  pretension,  a  revers 
al  of  the  condition  of  the  two  classes  of  states.  Instead  of  the 
old  having,  as  is  alledged,  the  wild  lands  which  they  included  at 
the  epoch  of  the  revolution,  they  will  have  none,  and  the  new 
states  all.  And  this  in  the  name,  and  for  the  purpose,  of  equali 
ty  among  all  the  members  of  the  confederacy!  What,  especial 
ly,  would  be  the  situation  of  Virginia?  She  magnanimously- 
ceded  an  empire  in  extent  for  the  common  benefit.  And  now  it 
is  proposed  not  only  to  withdraw  that  empire  from  the  object  of 
its  solemn  dedication,  to  the  use  of  all  the  states,  but  to  deny  her 
any  participation  in  it,  and  appropriate  it  exclusively  to  the  be 
nefit  of  the  new  states  carved  out  of  it. 

If  the  new  states  had  any  right  to  the  public  lands,  in  order  to 
produce  the  very  equality  contended  for,  they  ought  forthwith  to 
cede  that  right  to  the  Union,  for  the  common  benefit  of  all  the 
states.  Having  no  such  right,  they  ought  to  acquiesce  cheerful 
ly  in  an  equality  which  does,  in  fact,  now  exist  between  them 
and  the  old  states. 

The  committee  of  manufactures  has  clearly  shown,  that  if  the 
right  were  recognized  in  the  new  states  now  existing,  to  the  pub 
lic  lands  within  their  limits,  each  of  the  new  states,  as  they  might 
hereafter  be  successively  admitted  into  the  Union,  would  have 
the  same  right ;  and  consequently  that  the  pretension  under  ex- 


228  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

amination  embraces,  in  effect,  the  whole  public  domain,  that  is, 
a  billion  and  eighty  millions  of  acres  of  land. 

The  right  of  the  Union  to  the  public  lands  is  incontestible.  It 
ought  not  to  be  considered  debateable.  It  never  was  questioned 
but  by  a  few,  whose  monstrous  heresy,  it  was  probably  suppos 
ed,  would  escape  animadversion  from  the  enormity  of  the  absur 
dity,  and  the  utter  impracticability  of  the  success  of  the  claim. 
The  right  of  the  whole  is  sealed  by  the  blood  of  the  revolution, 
founded  upon  solemn  deeds  of  cession  from  sovereign  states,  de 
liberately  executed  in  the  face  of  the  world,  or  resting  upon  na 
tional  treaties  concluded  with  foreign  powers,  on  ample  equiva 
lents  contributed  from  the  common  treasury  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States. 

This  right  of  the  whole  was  stamped  upon  the  face  of  the  new 
states  at  the  very  instant  of  their  parturition.  They  admitted 
and  recognized  it  with  their  first  breath.  They  hold  their  sta 
tions,  as  members  of  the  confederacy,  in  virtue  of  that  admission. 
The  senators  who  sit  here,  and  the  members  in  the  house  of  re 
presentatives  from  the  new  states,  deliberate  in  Congress  with 
other  senators  and  representatives,  under  that  admission.  And, 
since  the  new  states  came  into  being,  they  have  recognized  this 
right  of  the  general  government  by  innumerable  acts. 

By  their  concurrence  in  the  passage  of  hundreds  of  laws  re 
specting  the  public  domain,  founded  upon  the  incontestible  right 
of  the  whole  of  the  states. 

By  repeated  applications  to  extinguish  Indian  titles,  and  to 
survey  the  lands  which  they  covered. 

And  by  solicitation  and  acceptance  of  extensive  grants  from 
the  general  government,  of  the  public  lands. 

The  existence  of  the  new  states  is  a  falsehood,  or  the  right  of 
all  the  states  to  the  public  domain  is  an  undeniable  truth.  They 
have  no  more  right  to  the  public  lands,  within  their  particular 
jurisdiction,  than  other  states  have  to  the  mint,  the  forts  and 
arsenals,  or  public  ships,  within  theirs,  or  than  the  people  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  have  to  this  magnificent  capitol,  in  whose 
splendid  halls  we  now  deliberate. 

The  equality  contended  for  between  all  the  states  now  exists. 
The  public  lands  are  now  held,  and  ought  to  be  held,  and  ad 
ministered  for  the  common  benefit  of  all.  I  hope  our  fellow  citi 
zens  of  Illinois,  Indiana  and  Missouri,  will  re -consider  the  mat 
ter  ;  that  they  will  cease  to  take  counsel  from  demagogues  who 
would  deceive  them,  and  instil  erroneous  principles  into  their 
ears ;  and  that  they  will  feel  and  acknowledge  that  their  brethren 
of  Kentucky,  and  of  Ohio,  and  of  all  the  states  in  the  Union, 
have  an  equal  right  with  the  citizens  of  those  three  states  in  the 
public  lands.  If  the  possibility  of  an  event  so  direful  as  a  sev 
erance  of  this  Union  were  for  a  moment  contemplated,  and  what 
would  be  the  probable  consequence  of  such  an  unspeakable  ca 
lamity,  three  confederacies  were  formed  out  of  its  fragments,  do 
you  imagine  that  the  western  confederacy  would  consent  to  the 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  229 

itates  including  the  public  lands,  holding  them  exclusively  for 
themselves?  Can  you  imagine  that  the  states  of  Ohio,  Ken 
tucky  and  Tennessee,  would  quietly  renounce  their  right  in  all 
the  public  lands  west  of  them  ?  No,  sir  !  No,  sir !  They  would 
wade  to  their  knees  in  blood  before  they  would  make  such  an 
unjust  and  ignominious  surrender. 

But  this  pretension,  unjust  to  the  old  States,  unequal  as  to  all, 
would  be  injurious  to  the  new  States  themselves,  in  whose  be 
half  it  has  been  put  forth,  if  it  were  recognized.  The  interest 
of  the  new  States  is  not  confined  to  the  lands  within  their  limits, 
but  extends  to  the  whole  billion  and  eighty  millions  of  acres. 
Sanction  the  claim,  however,  and  they  are  cut  down  and  restricted 
to  that  which  is  included  in  their  own  boundaries.  Is  it  not 
better  for  Ohio,  instead  of  the  five  millions  and  a  half — for  Indi 
ana,  instead  of  the  fifteen  millions — or  even  for  Illinois,  instead 
of  the  thirty-one  or  thirty-two  millions — or  Missouri,  instead  of 
the  thirty-eight  millions — within  their  respective  limits,  to  retain 
their  interest  in  those  several  quantities,  and  also  retain  their 
interest,  in  common  with  the  other  members  of  the  Union,  in  the 
countless  millions  of  acres  that  lie  west,  or  north-west,  beyond 
them? 

I  will  now  proceed,  Mr.  President,  to  consider  the  expediency 
of  a  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands  and  the  reason* 
assigned  by  the  land  committee,  in  their  report,  in  favor  of  that 
measure.  They  are  presented  there  in  formidable  detail,  and 
spread  out  under  seven  different  heads.  Let  us  examine  them : 
the  first  is,  "because  the  new  States  have  a  clear  right  to  par 
ticipate  in  the  benefits  of  a  reduction  of  the  revenue  to  the  wants 
«f  the  government,  by  getting  the  reduction  extended  to  the  arti 
cle  of  revenue  chiefly  used  by  them"  Here  is  a  renewal  of  the 
attempt,  made  early  in  the  session,  to  confound  the  public  lands 
with  foreign  imports,  which  was  so  successfully  exposed  and 
refuted  by  the  report  of  the  committee  on  manufactures.  Will 
not  the  new  States  participate  in  any  reduction  of  the  revenue, 
in  common  with  the  old  States,  without  touching  the  public 
lands?  As  far  as  they  are  consumers  of  objects  of  foreign  im 
ports,  will  they  not  equally  share  the  benefit  with  the  old  States'? 
What  right,  over  and  above  that  equal  participation,  have  the 
new  States  to  a  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands  ?  As 
States,  what  right,  much  less  what  "  clear  right"  have  they  to 
any  such  reduction?  In  their  sovereign  or  corporate  capacities, 
what  right?  Have  not  all  the  stipulations  between  them,  as 
States,  and  the  general  government,  been  fully  complied  with? 
Have  the  people,  within  the  new  States,  considered  distinct  from 
the  States  themselves,  any  right  to  such  reduction?  Whence  is 
it  derived?  They  went  there  in  pursuit  of  their  own  happiness. 
They  bought  lands  from  the  public  because  it  was  their  interest 
to  make  the  purchase,  and  they  enjoy  them.  Did  they,  because 
*hey  purchased  some  land,  which  they  possess  peacefully,  ac- 


230  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

quire  any,  and  what  right,  in  the  land  which  they  did  not  buy? 
But  it  may  be  argued,  that  by  settling  and  improving  these  lands, 
the  adjacent  public  lands  are  enhanced.  True ;  and  so  are  their 
own.  This  enhancement  of  the  public  lands  was  not  a  conse 
quence  which  they  went  there  to  produce,  but  was  a  collateral 
effect,  as  to  which  they  were  passive.  The  public  does  not  seek 
to  avail  itself  of  this  augmentation  in  value,  by  augmenting  the 
price.  It  leaves  that  where  it  was  ;  and  the  demand  for  reduc 
tion  ia  made  in  behalf  of  those  who  say  their  labor  has  increased 
the  value  of  the  public  lands,  and  the  claim  to  reduction  is 
founded  upon  the  fact  of  enhanced  value.  The  public,  like  all 
other  landholders,  had  a  right  to  anticipate  that  the  sale  of  a 
part  would  communicate,  incidentally,  greater  value  upon  the 
residue.  And,  like  all  other  land  proprietors,  it  has  the  right  to 
ask  more  for  that  residue,  but  it  does  not;  and,  for  one,  I  should 
be  as  unwilling  to  disturb  the  existing  price  by  augmentation  as 
by  reduction.  But  the  public  lands  is  the  article  of  revenue 
which  the  people  of  the  new  States  chiefly  consume.  In  another 
part  of  this  report  liberal  grants  of  the  public  lands  are  recom 
mended,  and  the  idea  of  holding  the  public  lands  as  a  source 
of  r6venue  is  scouted,  because  it  is  said  that  more  revenue  could 
be  collected  from  the  settlers,  as  consumers,  than  from  the  lands. 
Here  it  seems  that  the  public  lands  are  the  article  of  revenue 
chiefly  consumed  by  the  new  States. 

With  respect  to  lands  yet  to  be  sold,  they  are  open  to  the  pur 
chase,  alike,  of  emigrants  from  the  old  States,  and  settlers  in 
the  new.  As  the  latter  have  most  generally  supplied  themselves 
with  lands,  the  probability  is,  that  the  emigrants  are  more  inte 
rested  in  the  question  of  reduction  than  the  settlers.  At  all 
events,  there  can  be  no  peculiar  right  to  such  reduction  existing 
in  the  new  States.  It  is  a  question  common  to  all,  and  to  be 
decided  in  reference  to  the  interest  of  the  whole  Union. 

2.  "Because  the  public  debt  being  now  paid,  the  public  lands 
are  entirely  released  from  the  pledge  they  were  under  to  that 
object,  and  are  free  to  receive  a  new  and  liberal  destination,  for 
ifie  relief  of  the  States  in  which  they  lie." 

The  payment  of  the  public  debt  is  conceded  to  be  near  at 
hand ;  and  it  is  admitted  that  the  public  lands,  being  liberated, 
may  now  receive  a  new  and  liberal  destination.  Sueh  an  appro 
priation  of  their  proceeds  is  proposed  by  the  bill  reported  by  the 
committee  of  manufactures,  and  which  I  shall  hereafter  call  the 
attention  of  the  Senate  more  particularly  to.  But  it  did  not 
seem  just  to  that  committee,  that  this  new  and  liberal  destination 
of  them  should  be  restricted  "for  the  relief  of  the  States  in 
which  they  lie,"  exclusively,  but  should  extend  to  all  the  States 
indiscriminately  upon  principles  of  equitable  distribution. 

3.  "  Because  nearly  one  hundred  millions  of  acres  of  the  land 
now  in  market  are  the  refuse  of  sales  and  donations,  through  a  long 
series  of  years,  and  are  of  very  little  actual  value,  and  only  fit  to 
be  given  to  settlers,  or  abandoned  to  the  States  in  which  they  lie." 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  231 

According  to  an  official  statement,  the  total  quantity  of  public 
land  which  had  been  surveyed  up  to  the  31st  of  December  last, 
was  a  little  upwards  of  162,000,000  acres.  Of  this  a  large  pro 
portion,  perhaps  even  more  than  the  100,000,000  acres  stated  in 
the  land  report,  has  been  a  long  time  in  market.  The  entire 
quantity  which  has  ever  been  sold  by  the  United  States,  up  to 
the  same  day,  after  deducting  lands  relinquished  and  lands  re 
verted  to  the  United  States,  according  to  an  official  statement 
also,  is  25,242.590  acres.  Thus,  after  the  lapse  of  thirty-six 
years,  during  which  the  present  land  system  has  been  in  opera 
tion,  a  little  more  than  twenty-five  millions  of  acres  have  been 
sold,  not  averaging  a  million*  per  annum,  and  upwards  of  one 
hundred  millions  of  the  surveyed  lands  remain  to  be  sold.  The 
argument  of  the  report  of  the  land  committee  assumes  that 
"nearly  one  hundred  millions  are  the  refuse  of  sales  and  dona 
tions,"  are  of  very  little  actual  value,  and  only  fit  to  be  given  to 
settlers,  or  abandoned  to  the  States  in  which  they  lie. 

Mr.  President,  let  us  define  as  we  go — let  us  analyze.  What 
do  the  land  committee  mean  by  "refuse  land?"  Do  they  mean 
worthless,  inferior,  rejected  land,  which  nobody  will  buy  at  the 
present  government  price?  Let  us  look  at  facts,  and  make  them 
our  guide.  The  government  is  constantly  pressed  by  the  new 
States  to  bring  more  and  more  lands  into  the  market;  to  extin 
guish  more  Indian  titles;  to  survey  more.  The  new  States 
themselves  are  probably  urged  to  operate  upon  the  general  gov 
ernment  by  emigrants  and  settlers,  who  see  still  before  them,  in 
their  progress  west,  other  new  lands  which  they  desire.  The 
general  government  yields  to  the  solicitations.  It  throws  more 
land  into  the  market,  and  it  is  annually  and  daily  preparing  ad 
ditional  surveys  of  fresh  lands.  It  has  thrown  and  is  preparing 
to  throw  open  to  purchasers  already  162,000,000  of  acres.  And 
now,  because  the  capacity  to  purchase,  in  its  nature  limited  by 
the  growth  of  our  population,  is  totally  incompetent  to  absorb 
this  immense  quantity,  the  government  is  called  upon,  by  some 
of  the  very  persons  who  urged  the  exhibition  of  this  vast  amount 
to  sale,  to  consider  all  that  remains  unsold  as  refuse!  Twenty- 
five  millions  in  thirty-six  years  only  are  sold,  and  all  the  rest  is 
to  be  looked  upon  as  refuse.  Is  this  right?  If  there  had  been 
five  hundred  millions  in  market,  there  probably  would  not  have 
been  more,  or  much  more  sold.  But  I  deny  the  correctness  of 
the  conclusion  that  it  is  worthless  because  not  sold.  It  is  not 
sold  because  there  were  not  people  to  buy  it.  You  must  have 
gone  to  other  countries,  to  other  worlds,  to  the  moon,  and  drawn 
from  thence  people  to  buy  the  prodigious  quantity  which  you 
offered  to  sell. 

Refuse  land !  A  purchaser  goes  to  a  district  of  country  and 
buys  out  of  a  township  a  section  which  strikes  his  fancy.  He 
exhausts  his  money.  Others  might  have  preferred  other  sec 
tions.  Other  sections  may  even  be  better  than  his.  He  can 
with  no  more  propriety  be  said  to  have  "refused"  or  rejected  all 


132  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS, 

the  other  sections,  than  a  man  who,  attracted  by  the  beauty, 
charms  and  accomplishments  of  a  particular  lady,  marries  her, 
can  be  said  to  have  rejected  or  refused  all  the  rest  of  the  sex* 
.  Is  it  credible  that  out  of  150  or  160,000,000  of  acres  of  land  in 
a  valley  celebrated  for  its  fertility,  there  are  only  about  25,000,000 
of  acres  of  good  land,  and  that  all  the  rest  is  refuse?  Take  the 
State  of  Illinois  as  an  example.  Of  all  the  States  in  the  Union, 
that  State  probably  contains  the  greatest  proportion  of  rich,  fer 
tile  lands;  more  than  Ohio,  more  than  Indiana,  abounding  as 
they  both  do  in  fine  lands.  Of  the  thirty-three  millions  arid  a 
half  of  public  lands  in  Illinois,  a  little  more  only  than  two  mil 
lions  have  been  sold.  Is  the  residue  of  thirty-one  millions  all 
refuse  land?  Who  that  is  acquainted  in  the  west  can  assert  or 
believe  it?  No,  sir;  there  is  no  such  thing.  The  unsold  lands 
are  unsold  because  of  the  reasons  already  assigned.  Doubtless 
there  is  much  inferior  land  remaining,  but  a  vast  quantity  of  the 
best  of  lands  also.  For  its  timber,  soil,  water  power,  grazing, 
minerals,  almost  all  land  possesses  a  certain  value.  If  the  lands 
unsold  are  refuse  and  worthless  in  the  hands  of  the  general 
government,  why  are  they  sought  after  with  so  much  avidity? 
If  in  our  hands  they  are  good  for  nothing,  what  more  would  they 
be  worth  in  the  hands  of  the  new  States?  "  Only  fit  to  be  given 
to  settlers!"  What  settlers  would  thank  you?  what  settlers 
would  not  scorn  a  gift  of  refuse,  worthless  land?  If  you  mean 
to  be  generous,  give  them  what  is  valuable;  be  manly  in  your 
generosity. 

But  let  us  examine  a  little  closer  this  idea  of  refuse  land.  If 
there  be  any  state  in  which  it,  is  to  be  found  in  large  quantities, 
that  state  would  be  Ohio.  It  is  the  oldest  of  the  new  states. 
There  the  public  lands  have  remained  longest  exposed  in  the 
market.  But  there  we  find  only  five  millions  and  a  half  to  be 
sold.  And  1  hold  in  my  hand  an  account  of  sales  in  the  Zanes- 
ville  district,  one  of  the  oldest  in  that  state,  made  during  the 
present  year.  It  is  in  a  paper,  entitled  the  "  Ohio  Republican," 

Eublished  at  Zanesville  the  26th  May,  1832.  The  article  is 
eaded  "  refuse  land,"  and  it  states :  "  It  has  suited  the  interest 
of  some  to  represent  the  lands  of  the  United  States  which  have 
remained  in  market  for  many  years,  as  mere  « refuse'  which 
cannot  be  sold;  and  to  urge  a  rapid  reduction  of  price,  and  the 
cession  of  the  residue  in  a  short  period,  to  the  states  in  which 
they  are  situated.  It  is  strongly  urged  against  this  plan  that  it 
is  a  speculating  project,  which,  by  alienating  a  large  quantity 
of  land  from  the  United  States,  will  cause  a  great  increase  of 
price  to  actual  eettlerc,  in  a  few  years— instead  of  their  being 
able  forever,  as  it  may  be  said  is  the  case  under  the  present  sys 
«em  of  land  sales,  to  obtain  a  farm  at  a  reasonable  price.  To 
show  how  far  the  lands  unsold  are  from  being  worthless,  vre 
copy  from  the  Gazette  the  following  statement  of  recent  sales 
in  the  Zanesville  district,  one  of  the  oldest  districts  in  the  west 
The  sales  at  the  Zanesville  land  office  since  the  commencement 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  233 

of  the  present  year,  have  been  as  follows:  January,  $7,120  80, 
February  $3,542  67,  March  $11,744  75,  April  $9,209  19.  and 
since  the  first  of  the  present  month  about  9,000  dollars  worth 
have  been  sold,  more  than  half  of  which  was  in  40  acre  lots.** 
And  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  act,  passed  at  this  session, 
authorizing  sales  of  40  acres,  will,  from  the  desire  to  make  ad 
ditions  to  farms,  and  to  settle  young  members  of  families,  in 
crease  the  sales  very  much,  at  least  during  this  year. 

A  friend  of  mine  in  this  city  bought  in  Illinois  last  fall  about 
2,000  acres  of  this  refuse  land,  at  the  minimum  price,  for  which 
he  has  lately  refused  six  dollars  per  acre.  An  officer  of  this 
body,  now  in  my  eye,  purchased  a  small  tract  of  this  same  re 
fuse  land  of  160  acres,  at  second  or  third  hand,  entered  a  few 
years  ago,  and  which  is  now  estimated  at  1,900  dollars.  It  is  a 
business,  a  very  profitable  business,  at  which  fortunes  are  made 
in  the  new  states,  to  purchase  these  refuse  lands,  and,  without 
improving  them,  to  sell  them  again  at  large  advances. 

Far  from  being  discouraged  by  the  fact  of  so  much  surveyed 
public  land  remaining  unsold,  we  should  rejoice  that  this  bounti 
ful  resource,  possessed  by  our  country,  remains  in  almost  un- 
diminished  quantity,  notwithstanding  so  many  new  and  flour 
ishing  states  have  sprung  up  in  the  wilderness,  and  so  many 
thousands  of  families  have  been  accommodated.  It  might  be 
otherwise,  if  the  public  land  was  dealt  out  by  government  with 
a  sparing,  grudging,  griping  hand.  But  they  are  liberally  offer 
ed,  in  exhaustless  quantities,  and  at  moderate  prices,  enriching  in 
dividuals,  and  tending  to  the  rapid  improvement  of  the  country. 
The  two  important  facts  brought  forward  and  emphatically  dwelt 
on  by  the  committee  of  manufactures  stand  iu  their  full  force 
unaffected  by  any  tiling  stated  in  the  report  of  the  land  commit 
tee.  These  facts  must  carry  conviction  to  every  unbiassed 
mind  that  will  deliberately  consider  them.  The  first  is  the  rapid 
increase  of  the  new  states,  far  outstripping  the  old,  averaging 
annually  an  increase  of  eight  and  a  half  per  cent,  and  doubling 
of  course  in  twelve  years.  One  of  these  states,  Illinois,  full  of 
refuse  land,  increasing  at  the  rate  of  eighteen  and  a  half  per 
cent!  Would  this  astonishing  growth  take  place  if  the  lands 
were  too  high  or  all  llie  good  land  sold  ?  The  other  fact  is  the 
vast  increase  in  the  annual  sales;  in  1830,  rising  of  three  millions. 
Since  the  report  of  the  committee  of  manufactures,  the  re- 
Rirns  have  come  in  of  the  sales  of  last  year,  which  had  been 
estimated  at  three  millions.  They  were  in  fact  $3,566,127  94! 
Their  progressive  increase  baffles  all  calculation.  Would  thi* 
happen,  if  the  price  were  too  high? 

It  if  argued  that  the  value  of  different  townships  and  sections  ws 
rarious ;  and  that  it  is,  therefore,  wrong  to  fix  the  same  price  for 
all.  The  variety  in  the  quality,  situation,  and  advantages  of 
different  tracts,  is  no  doubt  great  After  the  adoption  of  any 
•yatem  of  classification,  there  would  still  remain  very  great 
20* 


234  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

diversity  in  the  tracts  belonging  to  the  same  class.  This  ia 
the  law  of  nature.  The  presumption  of  inferiority,  and  of  refuse 
land,  founded  upon  the  length  of  time  that  the  land  had  been  in 
market,  is  denied,  for  reasons  already  stated.  The  offer,  at 
public  auction,  of  all  lands  to  the  highest  bidder,  previous  to 
their  being  sold  at  private  sale,  provides  in  some  degree  for 
the  variety  in  the  value,  since  each  purchaser  pushes  the  land 
up  to  the  price  which,  according  to  his  opinion,  it  ought  to  com 
mand.  But  if  the  price  demanded  by  government  ia  not  too 
high  for  the  good  land,  (and  no  one  can  believe  it),  why  not 
wait  until  that  is  sold  before  any  reduction  of  price  in  the  bad? 
And  that  will  not  be  sold  for  many  years  to  come.  It  would 
be  quite  as  wrong  to  bring  the  price  of  good  land  down  to  the 
standard  of  the  bad,  as  it  is  alledged  to  be  to  carry  the  latter  up  to 
that  of  the  former.  Until  the  good  land  is  sold  there  will  be  no 
purchasers  of  the  bad :  for,  as  has  been  stated  in  the  report  of 
the  committee  on  manufactures,  a  discreet  farmer  would  rather 
give  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre  for  first  rate  land,  than  accept 
refuse  and  worthless  land  as  a  present. 

"  4.  Because  the  speedy  extinction  of  the  federal  title  within 
their  limits  is  necessary  to  the  independence  of  the  new  states, 
to  their  equality  with  the  elder  states;  to  the  development  of 
their  resources ;  to  the  subjection  of  their  soil  to  taxation,  culti 
vation  and  settlement,  and  to  the  proper  enjoyment  of  their  juris 
diction  and  sovereignty." 

All  this  is  mere  assertion  and  declamation.  The  general  gov 
ernment,  at  a  moderate  price,  is  selling  the  public  land  as  fasi 
as  it  can  find  purchasers.  The  new  states  are  populating  with 
unexampled  rapidity ;  their  condition  is  now  much  more  eligible 
than  that  of  some  of  the  old  states.  Ohio,  I  am  sorry  to  be  obliged 
to  confess,  is,  in  internal  improvement  and  some  other  respects, 
fifty  years  in  advance  of  her  elder  sister  and  neighbor,  Kentucky. 
How  have  her  growth  and  prosperity,  her  independence,  her 
oquality  with  the  elder  states,  the  development  of  her  resources, 
the  taxation,  cultivation,  and  settlement  of  her  soil,  or  the  proper 
enjoyment  of  her  jurisdiction  and  sovereignty,  been  affected  or 
impaired  by  the  federal  title  within  her  limits  ?  The  federal 
title!  it  has  been  a  source  of  blessings  and  of  bounties,  but  not 
one  of  real  grievance.  As  to  the  exemption  from  taxation  of 
the  public  lands,  and  the  exemption  for  five  years,  of  those  sold 
to  individuals,  if  the  public  land  belonged  to  the  new  states, 
would  they  tax  it  ?  And  as  to  the  latter  exemption,  it  is  paid  for 
by  the  general  government,  as  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the 
compacts ;  and  it  is  moreover,  beneficial  to  the  new  states  them 
selves,  by  holding  out.  a  motive  'to  emigrants  to  purchase  and 
settle  within  their  limits. 

"•6.  Because  the  ramified  machinery  of  the  land  office  depart 
ment,  and  the  ownership  of  so  much  soil,  extends  the  patronage 
and  authority  of  the  general  government  into  the  heart  and  cor-t 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  235 

tiers  of  the  new  states,  and  subjects  their  policy  to  the  danger  of 
a  foreign  and  powerful  influence." 

A  foreign  and  powerful  influence!  The  federal  government  a 
foreign  government!  And  the  exercise  of  a  legitimate  control 
over  the  national  property,  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  people 
of  the  United  States,  a  deprecated  penetration  into  the  heart 
and  corners  of  the  new  states  !  As  to  the  calamity  of  the  land 
offices,  which  are  held  within  them,  I  believe  that  is  not  regarded 
by  the  people  of  those  states  with  quite  as  much  horror  as  it  is 
viewed  by  the  land  committee.  They  justly  consider  that  they 
ought  to  hold  those  offices  themselves,  and  that  no  persons 
ought  to  be  sent  from  the  other  foreign  states  of  this  Union  to  fill 
them.  And,  if  the  number  of  the  offices  were  increased,  it 
would  not  be  looked  upon  by  them  as  a  grievous  addition  to  the 
calamity. 

But  what  do  the  land  committee  mean  by  the  authority  of  this 
foreign,  federal  government  ?  Surely  they  do  not  desire  to  get 
rid  of  the  federal  government.  And  yet  the  final  settlement  of 
the  land  question  will  have  effected  but  little  in  expelling  its 
authority  from  the  bosoms  of  the  new  states.  Its  action  will 
still  remain  in  a  thousand  forms,  and  the  heart  and  corners  of 
the  new  states  will  still  be  invaded  by  post-offices  and  post 
masters,  and  post-roads,  and  the  Cumberland  road,  and  various 
other  modifications  of  its  power. 

"7th.  Because  the  sum  of  425  millions  of  dollars  proposed  to 
be  drawn  from  the  new  states  and  territories,  by  the  sale  of  their 
soil,  at  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  is  unconscion 
able  and  impracticable — such  as  never  can  be  paid — and  the 
bare  attempt  to  raise  which,  must  drain,  exhaust  and  impoverish 
these  states,  and  give  birth  to  the  feelings,  which  a  sense  of  in 
justice  and  oppression  never  fail  to  excite,  and  the  excitement 
of  which  should  be  so  carefully  avoided  in  a  confederacy  of  free 
states.'- 

In  another  part  of  their  report  the  committee  say,  speaking  of 
the  immense  revenue  alledged  to  be  derivable  from  the  public 
lands,  "  this  ideal  revenue  is  estimated  at  $425,000,000,  for  the 
lands  now  within  the  limits  of  the  States  and  Territories,  and  at 
$1,363,589.691  for  the  whole  federal  domain.  Such  chimerical 
calculations  preclude  the  propriety  of  argumentative  answers." 
Well,  if  these  calculations  are  all  'chimerical,  there  is  no  danger 
from  the  preservation  of  the  existing  land  system  of  draining, 
exhausting  and  impoverishing  the  new  States,  and  of  exciting 
them  to  rebellion. 

The  manufacturing  committee  did  not  state  what  the  public 
lands  would,  in  fact,  produce.  They  could  not  state  it.  It  is 
hardly  a  subject  of  approximate  estimate.  The  committee  stated 
what  would  be  the  proceeds,  estimated  by  the  minimum  price 
of  the  public  lands;  what,  at  one  half  of  that  price ;  and  added 
that,  although  there  might  be  much  land  that  would  never  sell 
at  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre,  "as  fresh  lands  are  brought 


236  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

into  market  and  exposed  to  sale  at  public  auction,  many  of  them 
eell  at  prices  exceeding  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre." 
They  concluded  by  remarking  that  the  least  favorable  view  of 
regarding  them  was  to  consider  them  a  capital  yielding  an  an 
nuity  of  three  millions  of  dollars  at  this  time ;  that,  in  a  few 
years,  that  annuity  would  probably  be  doubled,  and  that  the 
capital  might  then  be  assumed  as  equal  to  one  hundred  million* 
of  dollars. 

Whatever  may  be  the  sum  drawn  from  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands,  it  will  be  contributed,  not  by  citizens  of  the  States  alone 
in  which  they  are  situated,  but  by  emigrants  from  all  the  States. 
And  it  will  be  raised,  not  in  a  single  year,  but  in  a  long  series 
of  years.  It  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  State  of  Ohio 
to  have  paid,  in  one  year,  the  millions  that  have  been  raised  in 
that  State  by  the  sale  of  public  lands ;  but  in  a  period  of  up 
wards  of  thirty  years  the  payment  has  been  made,  not  only 
without  impoverishing,  but  with  the  constantly  increasing  pros 
perity  of  the  State. 

Such.  Mr.  President,  are  the  reasons  of  the  land  committee 
for  the  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands.  Some  of  them 
had  been  anticipated  and  refuted  in  the  report  of  the  manufac 
turing  committee ;  and  I  hope  that  I  have  now  shown  the  inso- 
lidity  of  the  residue. 

I  will  not  dwell  upon  the  consideration  urged  in  that  report 
against  any  large  reduction,  founded  upon  its  inevitable  ten 
dency  to  lessen  the  value  of  the  landed  property  throughout  the 
Union,  and  that  in  the  western  States  especially.  That  such 
would  be  the  necessary  consequence,  no  man  can  doubt  who 
will  seriously  reflect  upon  such  a  measure  as  that  of  throwing 
into  the  market,  immediately,  upwards  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty  millions  of  acres,  and  at  no  distant  period  upwards  of  two 
hundred  millions  more,  at  greatly  reduced  rates. 

If  the  honorable  chairman  of  the  land  committee,  (Mr.  King,) 
had  relied  upon  his  own  sound  practical  sense,  he  would  have 
presented  a  report  far  less  objectionable  than  that  which  he  has 
made.  He  has  availed  himself  of  another's  aid,  and  the  hand 
of  the  Senator  from  Missouri,  (Mr.  Benton,)  is  as  visible  in  the 
composition  as  if  his  name  haa  been  subscribed  to  the  instru 
ment.  We  hear  again,  in  this  paper,  of  that  which  we  had  so 
often  heard  repeated  before  in  debate,  by  the  Senator  from 
Missouri, — the  sentiments  of  Edmund  Burke.  And  what  was 
the  state  of  things  in  England,  to  which  those  sentiments  were 
applied? 

England  has  too  little  land,  and  too  many  people.  America 
has  too  much  land,  for  the  present  population  of  the  country,  and 
wants  people.  The  British  crown  had  owned,  for  many  genera 
tions,  large  bodies  of  land,  preserved  for  game  and  forest,  from 
which  but  email  revenues  were  derived.  It  was  proposed  to  sell 
out  the  crown  lands,  that  they  might  be  peopled  and  cultivated, 
aad  that  the  royal  family  should  be  placed  ou  the  civil  list.  Mr, 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS,  23T 

Barke  supported  the  proposition  by  convincing  arguments.  Bot 
what  analogy  ia  there  between  the  crown  lands  of  the  British 
sovereign,  and  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States?  Are 
they  here  locked  up  from  the  people,  and,  for  the  sake  of  their 
game  or  timber,  excluded  from  sale  ?  Are  not  they  freely  ex- 
loosed  in  market,  to  all  who  want  them,  at  moderate  prices  ? — 
The  complaint  is,  that  they  are  not  sold  fast  enough,  in  other 
words,  that  people  are  not  multiplied  rapidly  enough  to  buy 
them.  Patience,  gentlemen  of  the  land  committee,  patience! 
The  new  States  are  daily  rising  in  power  and  importance.  Some 
of  them  are  already  great  and  flourishing  members  of  the  con 
federacy.  And,  if  you  will  only  acquiesce  in  the  certain  and 
quiet  operation  of  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  the  wilderness 
will  quickly  teem  with  people,  and  be  filled  with  the  monumenti 
of  civilization. 

The  report  of  the  land  committee  proceeds  to-  notice  and  to 
animadvert  upon  certain  opinions  of  a  late  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  contained  in  his  annual  report,  and  endeavors  to  con 
nect  them  with  some  sentiments  expressed  in  the  report  of  the 
committee  of  manufactures.  That  report  had  before  been  the 
subject  of  repeated  commentary  in  the  Senate,  by  the  Senator 
from  Missouri,  and  of  much  misrepresentation  and  vituperation 
in  the  public  press.  Mr.  Rush  showed  me  the  rough  draft  of  that 
report,  and  I  advised  him  to  expunge  the  paragraphs  in  question, 
because  I  foresaw  that  they  would  be  misrepresented,  and  thai 
he  would  be  exposed  to  unjust  accusation.  But  knowing  the 
purity  of  his  intentions,  believing  in  the  soundness  of  the  views 
which  he  presented,  and  confiding  in  the  candor  of  a  just  public, 
he  resolved  to  retain  the  paragraphs.  I  cannot  suppose  the  Sen 
ator  from  Missouri  ignorant  of  what  passed  between  Mr.  Rush 
and  me,  and  of  his  having,  against  my  suggestions,  retained  the 
paragraphs  in  question,  because  these  facts  were  all  stated  by 
Mr.  Rush  himself,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  a  late  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  representing  the  district  in  which  I 
reside,  which  letter,  more  than  a  year  ago,  was  published  in  the 
western  papers. 

I  shall  say  nothing  in  defence  of  myself— nothing  to  disprove 
the  charge  of  my  cherishing  unfriendly  feelings  and  sentiments 
towards  any  part  of  the  west.  If  the  public  acts  in  which  I  have 
participated;  if  the  uniform  tenor  of  my  whole  life  will  not  refute 
such  an  imputation,  nothing  that  I  could  here  say  would  refute  it 

But  I  will  say  something  in  defence  of  the  opinions  of  my 
late  patriotic  and  enlightened  colleague,  not  here  to  speak  for 
himself;  and  I  will  vindicate  his  official  opinions  from  the  erro 
neous  glosses  and  interpretations  which  have  teen  put  upon 
them. 

Mr.  Rush,  in  an  official  report  which  will  long  remain  a  monu 
ment  of  his  ability,  was  surveying  with  a  statesman's  eye  the 
condition  of  America.  He  was  arguing  in  favor  of  the  protec 
tive  policy— the  American  system.  He  spoke  of  the  limited  vo* 


238  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

cations  of  our  society,  and  the  expediency  of  multiplying  the 
means  of  increasing  subsistence,  comfort  and  wealth.  He  no 
ticed  the  great  and  the  constant  tendency  of  our  fellow-citizens 
to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  the  want  of  a  market  for  their 
surplus  produce,  the  inexpediency  of  all  blindly  rushing  to  the 
eame  universal  employment,  and  the  policy  of  dividing  ourselves 
into  various  pursuits.  He  says — "The  manner  in  which  the 
remote  lands  of  the  United  States  are  selling  and  settling,  whilst 
it  possibly  may  tend  to  increase  more  quickly  the  aggregate  popu 
lation  of  the  country,  and  the  mere  means  of  subsistence,  does 
not  increase  capital  in  the  same  proportion.  *  *  *  Any 
thing  that  may  serve  to  hold  back  this  tendency  to  diffusion  from 
running  too  far  and  too  long  into  an  extreme,  can  scarcely  prove 
otherwise  than  salutary.  *  *  *  *  If  the  population 
of  these  [a  majority  of  the  States,  including  some  western  States] 
not  yet  redundant  in  fact,  though  appearing  to  be  so,  under  this 
legislative  incitement  to  emigrate,  remain  fixed  in  more  instan 
ces,  as  it  probably  would  be  by  extending  the  motives  to  manu 
facturing  labor,  it  is  believed  that  the  nation  would  gain  in  two 
ways:  first,  by  the  more  rapid  accumulation  of  capital;  and 
next  by  the  gradual  reduction  of  the  excess  of  its  agricultural 
population  over  that  engaged  in  other  vocations.  It  is  not  ima 
gined  that  it  ever  would  be  practicable,  even  if  it  were  desirable, 
to  turn  this  stream  of  emigration  aside;  but  resources,  opened 
through  the  influence  of  the  laws,  in  new  fields  of  industry,  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  States  already  sufficiently  peopled  to  enter 
upon  them,  might  operate  to  lessen,  in  some  degree,  and  usefully 
lessen,  its  absorbing  force." 

Now,  Mr.  President,  what  is  there  in  this  view  adverse  to  the 
west,  or  unfavorable  to  its  interests?  Mr.  Rush  is  arguing  on 
the  tendency  of  the  people  to  engage  in  agriculture,  and  the 
incitement  to  emigration  produced  by  our  laws.  Does  he  pro 
pose  to  change  those  laws  in  that  particular?  Does  he  propose, 
in  fact,  any  new  measure?  So  far  from  suggesting  any  altera 
tion  of  the  conditions  on  which  the  public  lands  are  sold,  he  ex 
pressly  says  that  it  is  not  desirable,  if  it  were  practicable,  to  turn 
this  stream  of  emigration  aside.  Leaving  all  the  laws  in  full 
force,  and  all  the  motives  to  emigration,  arising  from  fertile  and 
cheap  lands,  untouched,  he  recommends  the  encouragement  of  a 
new  branch  of  business,  in  which  all  the  Union,  the  west  as 
well  as  the  rest,  is  interested ;  thus  presenting  an  option  to  popu 
lation  to  enirage  in  manufactures  or  in  agriculture,  at  its  own 
discretion.  ^Vnd  does  such  an  option  afford  just  ground  of  com 
plaint  to  any  one?  Is  it  not  an  advantage  to  all?  Do  the  land 
committee  desire  (I  am  sure  they  do  not)  to  create  starvation  in 
one  part  of  the  Union,  that  emigrants  may  be  forced  into  another? 
If  they  do  not,  they  ought  not  to  condemn  a  multiplication  of 
human  employments,  by  which,  as  its  certain  consequence,  there 
will  be  an  increase  in  the  means  of  subsistence  and  comfort. 
The  objection  to  Mr.  Rush,  then,  is,  that  he  looked  at  his  whole 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  23$ 

country,  and  at  all  parts  of  it;  and  that,  whilst  he  desired  the 
prosperity  and  growth  of  the  west  to  advance  undisturbed,  he 
wished  to  build  up,  on  deep  foundations,  the  welfare  of  all  the 
people. 

Mr.  Rush  knew  that  there  were  thousands  of  the  poorer  class^- 
es  who  never  could  emigrate;  and  that  emigration,  under  the 
best  auspices,  was  far  from  being  unattended  with  evil.  There 
are  moral,  physical,  pecuniary  obstacles  to  all  emigration ;  and 
these  will  increase  as  the  good  vacant  lands  of  the  west  are 
removed,  by  intervening  settlements,  further  and  further  from 
society,  as  it  is  now  located.  It  is,  I  believe  Dr.  Johnson  who 
pronounces  that,  of  all  vegetable  and  animal  creation,  man  is  the 
most  difficult  to  be  uprooted  and  transferred  to  a  distant  country; 
and  he  was  right.  Space  itself— mountains  and  seas  and  rivers 
are  impediments.  The  want  of  pecuniary  means — the  expenses 
of  the  outfit,  subsistence  and  transportation  of  a  family — is  no 
slight  circumstance.  When  all  these  difficulties  are  overcome, 
(and  how  few,  comparatively,  can  surmount  them?)  the  greatest 
of  all  remains — that  of  being  torn  from  one's  natal  spot ;  sepa 
rated,  for  ever,  from  the  roof  under  which  the  companions  of  his 
childhood  were  sheltered,  from  the  trees  which  have  shaded  him 
from  summer's  heats,  the  spring  from  whose  gushing  fountain 
he  has  drunk  in  his  youth,  the  tombs  that  hold  the  precious  relics 
of  his  venerated  ancestors ! 

But  I  have  said  that  the  land  committee  had  attempted  to 
confound  the  sentiments  of  Mr.  Rush  with  some  of  the  reasoning 
employed  by  the  committee  of  manufactures  against  the  proposed 
reduction  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands.  What  is  that  reason 
ing?  here  it  is:  it  will  speak  for  itself;  and,  without  a  single 
comment,  will  demonstrate  how  different  it  is  from  that  of  the 
late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  unexceptionable  as  that  has 
been  shown  to  be.  "The  greatest  emigration  (says  the  manu 
facturing  committee)  that  is  believed  now  to  take  place  from  any 
of  the  States,  is  from  Ohio,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The 
effects  of  a  material  reduction  in  the  price  of  the  public  lands 
would  be — 1st.  To  lessen  the  value  of  real  estate  in  those  three 
States.  2d.  To  diminish  their  interest  in  the  public  domain,  as 
a  common  fund  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  States.  And  3d.  To 
offer  what  would  operate  as  a  bounty  to  further  emigration  from 
those  States,  occasioning  more  and  more  lands,  situated  within 
them,  to  be  thrown  into  the  market,  thereby  not  only  lessening 
the  value  of  their  lands,  but  draining  them  both  of  their  popula 
tion  and  currency." 

There  are  good  men  in  different  parts,  but  especially  in  the 
Atlantic  portion  of  the  Union,  who  have  been  induced  to  regard 
lightly  this  vast  national  property ;  who  have  been  persuaded 
that  the  people  of  the  west  are  dissatisfied  with  the  administra 
tion  of  it ;  and  who  believe  that  it  will,  in  the  end,  be  lost  to  the 
nation ;  and  that,  it  is  not  worth  present  care  and  preservation. 
But  these  are  radical  mistakes.  The  great  body  of  the  west  are 


*40  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

satisfied— perfectly  satisfied  with  the  general  administration  of 
the  public  lands.  They  would  indeed  like,  and  are  entitled  to, 
a  more  liberal  expenditure  among  them  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales.  For  this  provision  is  made  by  the  bill  to  which  I  will 
hereafter  call  the  attention  of  the  senate.  But  the  great  body  of 
the  west  have  not  called  for,  and  understand  too  well  their  real 
interest  to  desire  any  essential  change  in  the  system  of  survey, 
eale>  or  price  of  the  lands.  There  may  be  a  few,  stimulated  by 
demagogues,  who  desire  change ;  and  what  system  is  there,  what 
government,  what  order  of  human  society,  that  a  few  do  not  de- 
eire  change  ? 

It  is  one  of  the  admirable  properties  of  the  existing  system  that 
it  contains  within  itself  and  carries  along  principles  of  conserva 
tion  and  safety.  In  the  progress  of  its  operation,  new  states  be 
come  identified  with  the  old,  in  feeling,  in  thinking,  and  in  inter 
est.  Now,  Ohio  is  as  sound  as  any  old  state  in  the  Union,  in  all 
her  views  relating  to  the  public  lands.  She  feels  that  her  share 
in  the  exterior  domain  is  much  more  important  than  would  be  an 
exclusive  right  to  the  few  millions  of  acres  left  unsold,  within  her 
limits,  accompanied  by  a  virtual  surrender  of  her  interest  in  all 
the  other  public  lands  of  the  United  States.  And  I  have  no 
doubt  that  now,  the  people  of  the  other  new  states,  left  to  their 
own  unbiassed  sense  of  equity  and  justice,  would  form  the  same 
judgment.  They  cannot  believe  that  what  they  have  not  bought, 
what  remains  the  property  of  themselves  and  all  their  brethren 
of  the  United  States,  in  common,  belongs  to  them  exclusively. 
But  if  I  am  mistaken — if  they  have  been  deceived  by  erroneous 
impressions  on  their  mind,  made  by  artful  men,  as  the  sales  pro 
ceed,  and  the  public  land  is  exhausted,  and  their  population  in 
creased,  like  the  state  of  Ohio,  they  will  feel  that  their  true  inte 
rest  points  to  their  remaining  co-partners  in  the  whole  national 
domain,  instead  of  bringing  forward  an  unfounded  pretension  to 
the  inconsiderable  remnant  which  will  be  then  left  in  their  own 
limits. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  I  have  to  say  something  in  respect  to 
the  particular  plan  brought  forward  by  the  committee  of  manu 
factures  for  a  temporary  appropriation  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  of  the  public  lands. 

The  committee  say  that  this  fund  is  not  wanted  by  the  gener 
al  government ;  that  the  peace  of  the  country  is  not  likely,  from 
present  appearances,  to  be  speedily  disturbed ;  and  that  the  ge 
neral  government  is  absolutely  embarrassed  in  providing  against 
an  enormous  surplus  in  the  treasury.  Whilst  this  is  the  condi 
tion  of  the  federal  government,  the  states  are  in  want  of,  and  can 
most  beneficially  use,  that  very  surplus,  with  which  we  do  not 
know  what  to  do.  The  powers  of  the  general  government  are 
limited :  those  of  the  states  are  ample.  If  those  limited  powers 
authorized  an  application  of  the  fund  to  some  objects,  perhaps 
there  are  others,  of  more  importance,  to  which  the  powers  of  the 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  241 

states  would  be  more  competent,  or  to  which  they  may  apply  a 
more  provident  care. 

But  the  government  of  the  whole  and  of  the  parts,  at  last,  is 
but  one  government  of  the  same  people.  In  form  they  are  two, 
in  substance  one.  They  both  stand  under  the  same  solemn  ob 
ligation  to  promote,  by  all  the  powers  with  which  they  are  re 
spectively  entrusted,  the  happiness  of  the  people ;  and  the  people, 
in  their  turn,  owe  respect  and  allegiance  to  both.  Maintaining 
these  relations,  there  should  be  mutual  assistance  to  each  other 
afforded  by  these  two  systems.  When  the  states  are  full-handed, 
and  the  coffers  of  the  general  government  are  empty,  the  states 
should  come  to  the  relief  of  the  general  government,  as  many  of 
them  did,  most  promptly  and  patriotically,  during  the  late  war. 
When  the  conditions  of  the  parties  are  reversed,  as  is  now  the 
case,  the  states  wanting  what  is  almost  a  burthen  to  the  general 
government,  the  duty  of  this  government  is  to  go  to  the  relief  of 
the  states. 

They  were  views  like  these  which  induced  a  majority  of  the 
committee  to  propose  the  plan  of  distribution  contained  in  the 
bill  now  under  consideration.  For  one.  however,  I  will  again 
repeat  the  declaration,  which  I  made  early  in  the  session,  that  I 
unite  cordially  with  those  who  condemn  the  application  of  any 
principle  of  distribution  among  the  several  states,  to  surplus  re 
venue  derived  from  taxation.  I  think  income  derived  from  tax 
ation  stands  upon  ground  totally  distinct  from  that  which  ie  re 
ceived  from  the  public  lands.  Congress  can  prevent  the  accu 
mulation,  at  least,  for  any  considerable  time,  of  revenue  from 
duties,  by  suitable  legislation,  lowering  or  augmenting  the  im 
posts  ;  but  it  cannot  stop  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  without 
the  exercise  of  arbitrary  and  intolerable  power.  The  powers  of 
Congress  over  the  public  lands  are  broader  and  more  compre 
hensive  than  those  which  they  possess  over  taxation,  and  the 
money  produced  by  it. 

This  brings  me  to  consider  1st,  the  power  of  Congress  to  make 
the  distribution.  By  the  second  part  of  the  third  section  of  the 
fourth  article  of  the  constitution,  Congress  "  have  power  to  dis 
pose  of,  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting 
the  territory  or  other  property  of  the  United  States."  The  pow 
er  of  disposition  is  plenary,  unrestrained,  unqualified.  It  is  not 
limited  to  a  specified  object  or  to  a  defined  purpose,  but  left  ap 
plicable  to  any  object  or  purpose  which  the  wisdom  of  Congress 
shall  deem  fit,  acting  under  its  high  responsibility. 

The  government  purchased  Louisiana  and  Florida.  May  it 
not  apply  the  proceeds  of  lands  within  those  countries  to  any  ob 
ject  which  the  good  of  the  Union  may  seem  to  indicate?  If 
there  be  a  restraint  in  the  constitution,  where  is  it,  what  is  it  ? 

The  uniform  practice  of  the  government  has  conformed  to«the 
idea  of  its  possessing  full  powers  over  the  public  lands.  They 
have  been  freely  granted,  from  time  to  time,  to  communities  and 


242  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

individuals,  for  a  great  variety  of  purposes.  To  states  for  edu 
cation,  internal  improvements,  public  buildings  ;  to  corporatkms 
for  education ;  to  the  deaf  and  dumb  ;  to  the  cultivators  of  the 
olive  and  the  vine ;  to  pre-emptioners  ;  to  Gen.  Lafayette,  &c. 

The  deeds  from  the  ceding  states,  far  from  opposing,  fully  war 
rant  the  distribution.  That  of  Virginia  ceded  the  land  as  "  a 
common  fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of  the  United  States 
as  have  become,  or  shall  become,  members  of  the  confederation 
or  federal  alliance  of  the  said  states,  Virginia  inclusive."  The 
cession  was  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  states.  It  may  be  argued 
that  the  fund  must  be  retained  in  the  common  treasury,  and 
thence  paid  out.  But  by  the  bill  reported,  it  will  come  into  the 
common  treasury,  and  then  the  question  how  it  shall  be  subse 
quently  applied  for  the  use  aud  benefit  of  such  of  the  United 
States  as  compose  the  confederacy,  is  one  of  modus  only.  Whe 
ther  the  money  is  disbursed  by  the  general  government  directly, 
or  is  paid  out,  upon  some  equal  and  just  principle,  to  the  states, 
to  be  disbursed  by  them,  cannot  affect  the  right  of  distribution. 
If  the  general  government  retained  the  power  of  ultimate  dis 
bursement,  it  could  execute  it  only  by  suitable  agents ;  and  what 
agency  is  more  suitable  than  that  of  the  states  themselves  ?  If 
the  states  expend  the  money,  as  the  bill  contemplates,  the  expen 
diture  will,  in  effect,  be  a  disbursement  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole,  although  the  several  states  are  the  organs  of  the  expen 
diture  ;  for  the  whole  and  all  the  parts,  are  identical.  And  what 
ever  redounds  to  the  benefit  of  all  the  parts  necessarily  contrib 
utes,  in  the  same  measure,  to  the  benefit  of  the  whole.  The  great 
questibn  should  be,  is  the  distribution  upon  equal  and  just  prin 
ciples  1  And  this  brings  me  to  consider, 

2d.  The  terms  of  the  distribution  proposed  by  the  bill  of  the 
committee  of  manufactures.  The  bill  proposes  a  division  of  the 
nett  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  among  the  several 
states  composing  the  Union,  according  to  their  federal  represen 
tative  population,  as  ascertained  by  the  last  census ;  and  it  pro 
vides  for  new  states  that  may  hereafter  be  admitted  into  the 
Union.  The  basis  of  the  distribution,  therefore,  is  derived  from 
the  constitution  itself,  which  has  adopted  the  same  rule,  in  respect 
to  representation  and  direct  taxes.  None  could  be  more  just  and 
equitable. 

But  it  has  been  contended,  in  the  land  report,  that  the  revo 
lutionary  states  which  did  not  cede  their  public  lands,  ought  not 
to  be  allowed  to  come  into  the  distribution.  This  objection 
does  not  apply  to  the  purchases  of  Louisiana  and  Florida,  be 
cause  the  consideration  for  them  was  paid  out  of  the  common 
treasury,  and  was  consequently  contributed  by  all  the  states. 
Nor  has  the  objection  any  just  foundation,  when  applied  to  the 
public  lands  derived  from  Virginia  and  the  other  ceding  states; 
because,  by  the  terms  of  the  deeds,  the  cessions  were  made  for 
the  use  and  benefit  of  all  the  states.  The  ceding  states  having 
made  no  exception  of  any  state,  what  right  has  the  general  gov- 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.  243 

eminent  to  interpolate  in  the  deeds,  and  now  create  an  excep 
tion?  The  general  government  is  a  mere  trustee,  holding  the 
domain  in  virtue  of  those  deeds,  according  to  the  terms  and 
conditions  which  they  expressly  describe ;  and  it  is  bound  to  ex 
ecute  the  trust  accordingly.  But  how  is  the  fund  produced  by 
the  public  lands  now  expended?  It  comes  into  the  common 
treasury,  and  is  disbursed  for  the  common  benefit,  without  ex 
ception  of  any  state.  The  bill  only  proposes  to  substitute  to  that 
object,  now  no  longer  necessary,  another  and  more  useful  com 
mon  object.  The  general  application  of  the  fund  will  continue, 
under  the  operation  of  the  bill,  although  the  particular  purposes 
may  be  varied. 

The  equity  of  the  proposed  distribution,  as  it  respects  the  two 
classes  of  states,  the  old  and  the  new,  must  be  manifest  to  the 
senate.  It  proposes  to  assign  to  the  new  states,  besides  the  five 
per  cent,  stipulated  for  in  their  several  compacts  with  the  gene 
ral  government,  the  further  sum  of  ten  per  cent,  upon  the  nett 
proceeds.  Assuming  the  proceeds  of  the  last  year,  amounting  to 
$3,566,127  94,  as  the  basis  of  the  calculation,  I  hold  in  my 
hand  a  paper  which  shows  the  sum  that  each  of  the  seven  new- 
states  would  receive.  They  have  complained  of  the  exemption 
from  taxation  of  the  public  lands  sold  by  the  general  govern 
ment  for  five  years  after  the  sale.  If  that  exemption  did  not 
exist,  and  they  were  to  exercise  the  power  of  taxing  those  lands, 
as  the  average  increase  of  their  population  is  only  eight  and 
a  half  per  cent,  per  annum,  the  additional  revenue  which  they 
would  raise  would  only  be  eight  and  a  half  per  cent,  per  annum  ; 
that  is  to  say,  a  state  now  collecting  a  revenue  of  $100,000  per 
annum,  would  collect  only  $108,500,  if  it  were  to  tax  lands  recent 
ly  sold.  But  by  the  kill  under  consideration,  each  of  the  seven 
new  states  will  annually  receive,  as  its  distributive  share,  more 
than  the  whole  amount  of  its  annual  revenue. 

It  may  be  thought  that  to  set  apart  ten  per  cent,  to  the  new 
states,  in  the  first  instance,  is  too  great  a  proportion,  and  is  un 
just  towards  the  old  states.  But  it  will  be  recollected  that,  as 
they  populate  much  faster  than  the  old  states,  and  as  the  last 
census  is  to  govern  in  the  apportionment,  they  ought  to  receive 
more  than  the  old  states.  If  they  receive  too  much  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  ternij  it  may  be  neutralized  by  the  end  of  it. 

After  the  deduction  shall  have  been  made  of  the  fifteen  per 
cent,  allotted  to  the  new  states,  the  residue  is  to  be  divided 
among  the  twenty-four  states,  old  and  new,  composing  the  Union. 
What  each  of  the  states  would  receive,  is  shown  by  a  table  an 
nexed  to  the  report.  Taking  the  proceeds  of  the  last  year  as  the 
standard,  there  must  be  added  one-sixth  to  what  is  set  down  in 
that  table  as  the  proportion  of  the  several  states. 

If  the  power  and  the  principle  of  the  proposed  distribution  be 
satisfactory  to  the  senate,  I  think  the  objects  cannot  fail  to  be 
equally  so.  They  are  education,  internal  improvements,  and 
colonization — all  great  and  beneficent  objects — all  national  in 


244  ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

their  nature.  No  mind  can  be  cultivated  and  improved ;  no 
work  of  internal  improvement  can  be  executed  in  any  part  of 
the  Union,  nor  any  person  of  color  transported  from  any  of  ita 
ports,'  in  which  the  whole  Union  is  not  interested.  The  prospe 
rity  of  the  whole  is  an  aggregate  of  the  prosperity  of  the  parts. 

The  st^es,  each  judging  for  itself  will  select  among  the  ob 
jects  enumerated  in  the  bill,  that  which  comports  best  with  its 
own  policy.  There  is  no  compulsion  in  the  choice.  Some  will 
prefer,  perhaps,  to  apply  the  fund  to  the  extinction  of  debt,  now 
burdensome,  created  for  internal  improvements ;  some  to  new 
objects  of  internal  improvement;  others  to  education;  and  others 
again  to  colonization.  It  may  be  supposed  possible  that  the 
states  will  divert  the  fund  from  the  specified  purposes:  but 
against  such  a  misapplication  we  have,  in  the  first  place,  the 
security  which  arises  out  of  their  presumed  good  faith;  and,  in 
the  second,  the  power  to  withhold  subsequent,  if  there  has  been 
any  abuse  in  previous  appropriations. 

It  has  been  argued  that  the  general  government  has  no  power 
in  respect  to  colonization.  Waiving  that,  as  not  being  a  ques 
tion  at  this  time,  the  real  inquiry  is,  have  the  states  themselves 
any  such  power  ?  For  it  is  to  the  states  that  the  subject  is  referred. 
The  evil  of  a  free  black  population  is  not  restricted  to  particular 
states,  but  extends  to  and  is  felt  by  all.  It  is  not  therefore,  the 
slave  question,  but  totally  distinct  from  and  unconnected  with 
it.  I  have  heretofore  often  expressed  my  perfect  conviction  that 
the  general  government  has  no  constitutional  power  which  it 
can  exercise  in  regard  to  African  slavery.  That  conviction  re 
mains  unchanged.  The  states  in  which  slavery  is  tolerated, 
have  exclusively  in  their  own  hands  the  entire  regulation  of  the 
subject.  But  the  slave  states  differ  in  opinion  as  to  the  expedi 
ency  of  African  colonization.  Several  of  them  have  signified 
their  approbation  of  it.  The  legislature  of  Kentucky,  I  believe 
unanimously,  recommended  the  encouragement  of  colonization 
to  Congress. 

Should  a  war  break  out  during  the  term  of  five  years,  that  the 
operation  of  the  bill  is  limited  to,  the  fund  is  to  be  withdrawn 
and  applied  to  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war.  If  there 
be  no  war,  Congress,  at  the  end  of  the  term,  will  be  able  to 
ascertain  whether  the  money  has  been  beneficially  expended,  and 
to  judge  of  the  propriety  of  continuing  the  distribution. 

Three  reports  have  been  made,  on  this  great  subject  of  the 
public  lands,  during  the  present  session  of  Congress,  besides  that 
of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  at  its  commencement — two  in 
the  senate  and  one  in  the  house.  All  three  of  them  agree,  1st, 
in  the  preservation  of  the  control  of  the  general  government 
over  the  public  lands ;  and  3d,  they  concur  in  rejecting  the  plan 
of  a  cession  of  the  public  lanils  to  the  states  in  which  they  are 
situated,  recommended  by  the  secretary.  The  land  committee 
of  the  senate  propose  an  assignment  of  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the 
nctt  proceeds,  besides  the  five  per  cent,  stipulated  in  the  com- 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS  245 

pacts,  (making  together  twenty  per  cent.)  to  the  new  states,  and 
nothing  to  the  old. 

The  committee  of  manufactures  of  the  senate,  after  an  allot 
ment  of  an  additional  sum  of  ten  per  cent,  to  the  new  states, 
proposes  an  equal  distribution  of  the  residue  among  all  the 
states,  old  and  new.  upon  equitable  principles. 

The  senate's  land  committee,  besides  the  proposal  of  a  distri 
bution,  restricted  to  the  new  states,  recommends  an  immediate 
reduction  of  the  price  of  "fresh  lands,"  to  a  minimum  of  one  dol 
lar  per  acre,  and  to  fifty  cents  per  acre  for  lands  which  have 
been  five  years  or  upwards  in  market." 

The  land  committee  of  the  house  is  opposed  to  all  distribution, 
general  or  partial,  and  recommends  a  reduction  of  the  price  to 
one  dollar  per  acre. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  I  have  a  few  words  more  to  say  and 
shall  be  done.  We  are  admonished  by  all  our  reflections,  and 
by  existing  signs,  of  the  duty  of  communicating  strength  and 
energy  to  the  glorious  Union  which  now  encircles  our  favored 
country.  Among  the  ties  which  bind  us  together,  the  public 
domain  merits  high  consideration.  And  if  we  appropriate,  for 
a  limited  time,  the  proceeds  of  that  great  resource,  among  the 
several  states,  for  the  important  objects  which  have  been  enu 
merated,  a  neAv  and  powerful  bond  of  affection  and  of  interest 
will  be  added.  The  states  will  feel  and  recognize  the  operation 
of  the  general  government,  not  merely  in  power  and  burdens, 
but  in  benefactions  and  blessings.  And  the  general  government 
in  its  turn  will  feel,  from  the  expenditure  of  the  money  which  it 
dispenses  to  the  states,  the  benefits  of  moral  and  intellectual 
improvement  of  the  people,  of  greater  facility  in  social  and  com 
mercial  intercourse,  and  of  the  purification  of  the  population  of 
our  country,  themselves  the  best  parental  sources  of  national 
character,  national  Union,  and  national  greatness.  Whatever 
may  be  the  fate  of  the  particular  proposition  now  under  consid 
eration,  I  sincerely  hope  that  the  attention  of  the  nation  may 
be  attracted  to  this  most  interesting  subject ;  that  it  may  justly 
appreciate  the  value  of  this  immense  national  property;  and  that, 
preserving  the  regulation  of  it  by  the  will  of  the  whole,  for  the 
advantage  of  the  whole,  it  may  be  transmitted,  as  a  sacred  and 
inestimable  succession,  to  posterity,  for  its  benefit  and  blessing 
for  ages  to  come. 
21* 


246 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 


H 

2  *5'     °  g  OT'P  5'5'SiS. 

2.  p  3*      p  >-.  OT.  cr  co  o  p  J^ 

^•3  rK"        v*"~>  fc!' 2    C    r-.'    m'  3 


800  Ol 
i— k  4— 
~4  H*  CO 


IO  00  CO  *"•  G>  t£» 
-J  CO  CD  tO 

o»  o  OVQO 


00  O  CO  -J  CO  CD  tO 

ci  01  £* 

' 


CO  CO 


poJ5jDJ3JojoJo 


^  O5  4^  ^1 


s 


*-i  CC  CO  Ol  CD  O  O1) 

co  co  H— ^''co  <o  co  co 

CO  CO  CO  ^  CO  -^  CO 
00  CO  CO  O*  CO  "^1  ***Z 

00  CO  00  O  05  CO  CD 

>-L  _!  ^J  ^  CD  05  t-» 


CO  Gi 
»  » 


O5  CO  00  00  >-*  t-* 
-i  O  00  CO  CO  *»• 


CJA  CO  -si  O\ 


CJ»  O>  O  CD  O  CD 


<l  *».  CO  C^  CO  CO  t-» 
rfi-  C*  Ol  00  if».  M  CO 


CQ 


s? 


^••ffi-3 


o 
S  7 


ON  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 


247 


STATEMENT  showing  the  dividend  of  each  state,  (according 
to  its  federal  population),  in  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands, 
after  deducting  therefrom  fifteen  per  cent,  as  an  additional  di 
vidend  for  the  states  in  which  the  public  land  is  situated. 
[Estimated  proceeds  of  lands,  $3,000,000 ;  deduct  fifteen  per 

cent  $450,000,  arid  $2,500,000  remains  to  be  divided  among  all 

the  states  according  to  their  population.] 


STATES. 

Maine, 

New  Hampshire, 

Massachusetts, 

Vermont, 

Rhode  Island,    - 

Connecticut 

New-York, 

New  Jersey, 

Pennsylvania,    - 

Delaware, 

Maryland, 

Virginia,    - 

North  Carolina," 

South  Carolina,' 

Georgia,    - 

Alabama,  - 

Mississippi, 

Louisiana, 

Tennessee, 

Kentucky, 

Ohio, 

Indiana,     - 

Illinois, 

Missouri,    - 


Federal  population. 
1830. 

399,437 
269,326 
610,408 
280,657 
97;  194 
297,665 

-  1,918.553 

319,922 

.  1,348,072 

75,432 

405,843 

•  1,023,503 

639,747 
455,025 
429,811 
262,508 
110,358 
171,694 
625,263 
621,832 
935,884 
343,031 
157,147 
130,419 

11,928,731 


Shares  in  proceeds  of 
public  lands. 

$85,387  48 

57,573  71 

130,487  59 

59,995  93 

20,777  12 

63,631  72 

410,128  29 

68,389  59 

288,176  64 

15,202  93 

86,756  89 

218,793  82 

136,758  45 

97,270  51 

91,880  52 

56,116  22 

23,591  19 

36,702  95 

133,662  21 

132;928  77 

200,063  54 

73,329  59 

33,593  25 

27,879  68 


248  ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS. 

ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS. 

February  12,  1833. 
Mr.  Clay  rose  and  addressed  the  senate  to  the  following  ef- 

I  yesterday,  sir,  gave  notice  that  I  should  ask  leave  to  intro 
duce  a  bill  to  modify  the  various  acts  imposing  duties  on  imports. 
I,  at  the  same  time,  added,  that  I  should,  with  the  permission  of 
the  senate,  offer  an  explanation  of  the  principle  on  which  that 
bill  is  founded.  I  owe,  sir,  an  apology  to  the  senate  for  this 
course  of  action,  because,  although  strictly  parliamentary,  it  is, 
nevertheless,  out  of  the  usual  practice  of  this  body  ;  but  it  is  a 
course  which  I  trust  that  the  senate  will  deem  to  be  justified  by 
the  interesting  nature  of  the  subject  I  rise,  sir,  on  this  occasion, 
actuated  by  no  motives  of  a  private  nature,  by  no  personal  feel 
ings,  and  for  no  personal  objects  ;  but  exclusively  in  obedience 
to°a  sense  of  the  duty  which  I  owe  to  my  country.  I  trust,  there 
fore,  that  no  one  will  anticipate  on  my  part  any  ambitious  dis 
play  of  such  humble  powers  as  I  may  possess.  It  is  sincerely 
my  purpose  to  present  a  plain,  unadorned,  and  naked  statement 
of  facts  connected  with  the  measure  which  I  shall  have  the  hon 
or  to  propose,  and  with  the  condition  of  the  country.  When  I 
survey,  sir,  the  whole  face  of  our  country,  I  behold  all  around  me 
evidences  of  the  most  gratifying  prosperity,  a  prospect  which 
would  seem  to  be  without  a  cloud  upon  it,  were  it  not  that  through 
all  parts  of  the  country  there  exist  great  dissensions  and  unhap 
py  distinctions,  which,  if  they  can  possibly  be  relieved  and  recon 
ciled  by  any  broad  scheme  of  legislation  adapted  to  all  interests, 
and  regarding  the  feelings  of  all  sections,  ought  to  be  quieted ; 
and  leading  to  which  object  any  measure  ought  to  be  well  re 
ceived. 

In  presenting  the  modification  of  the  tariff  laws,  which  I  am 
now  about  to  submit,  I  have  two  great  objects  in  view.  My  first 
object  looks  to  the  tariff.  I  am  compelled  to  express  the  opinion, 
formed  after  the  most  deliberate  reflection,  and  on  full  survey  of 
the  whole  country,  that  whether  rightfully  or  wrongfully,  the  ta 
riff  stands  in  imminent  danger.  If  it  should  even  be  preserved 
during  this  session,  it  must  fall  at  the  next  session.  By  what  cir 
cumstances,  and  through  what  causes,  has  arisen  the  necessity 
for  this  change  in  the  policy  of  our  country,  I  will  not  pretend 
now  to  elucidate.  Others  there  are  who  may  differ  from  the  im 
pressions  which  my  mind  has  received  upon  this  point.  Owing, 
however,  to  a  variety  of  concurrent  causes,  the  tariff,  as  it  now 
exists,  is  in  imminent  danger,  and  if  the  system  can  be  preserved 
beyond  the  next  session,  it  must  be  by  some  means  not  now  with 
in  the  reach  of  human  sagacity.  The  fall  of  that  policy,  sir, 
would  be  productive  of  consequences  calamitous  indeed.  When 
I  look  to  the  variety  of  interests  which  are  involved,  to  the  num- 


ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS.  249 

ber  of  individuals  interested,  the  amount  of  capital  invested,  the 
value  of  the  buildings  erected,  and  the  whole  arrangement  of  the 
business  for  the  prosecution  of  the  various  branches  of  the  man 
ufacturing  art  which  have  sprung  up  under  the  fostering  care  of 
this  government,  I  cannot  contemplate  any  evil  equal  to  the  sud 
den  overthrow  of  all  those  interests.  History  can  produce  no 
Earailel  to  the  extent  of  the  mischief  which  would  be  produced 
y  such  a  disaster.  The  repeal  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  itself  was 
nothing  in  comparison  with  it.  That  condemned  to  exile  and 
brought  to  ruin  a  great  number  of  persons.  The  most  respecta 
ble  portion  of  the  population  of  France  was  condemned  to  exile 
and  ruin  by  that  measure.  But  in  my  opinion,  sir,  the  sudden 
repeal  of  the  tariff  policy  would  bring  ruin  and  destruction  on 
the  whole  people  of  this  country.  There  is  no  evil,  in  my  opin 
ion,  equal  to  the  consequences  which  would  result  from  such  a 
catastrophe. 

What,  sir,  are  the  complaints  which  unhappily  divide  the 
people  of  this  great  country.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  said  by 
those  who  are  opposed  to  the  tariff,  that  it  unjustly  taxes  a  por 
tion  of  the  people,  and  paralyzes  their  industry;  that  it  is  to  be 
a  perpetual  operation ;  that  there  is  to  be  no  end  to  the  system ; 
which,  right  or  wrong,  is  to  be  urged  to  their  inevitable  ruin. 
And  what  is  the  just  complaint,  on  the  other  hand,  of  those  who 
support  the  tariff?  It  is,  that  the  policy  of  the  government  is 
vacillating  and  uncertain,  and  that  there  is  no  stability  in  our 
legislation.  Before  one  set  of  books  are  fairly  opened,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  close  them,  and  to  open  a  new  set.  Before  a  law 
can  be  tested  by  experiment,  another  is  passed.  Before  the 
present  law  has  gone  into  operation — before  it  is  yet  nine  montha 
old — passed,  as  it  was,  under  circumstances  of  extraordinary 
deliberation,  the  fruit  of  nine  months  labor — before  we  know 
any  thing  of  its  experimental  effects,  and  even  before  it  com 
mences  its  operations,  we  are  required  to  rt'oeai  it.  On  one  side 
we  are  urged  to  repeal  a  system  which  is  fraught  with  ruin;  on 
the  other  side,  the  check  now  imposed  on  enterprize,  and  the 
state  of  alarm  in  which  the  public  mind  has  been  thrown,  ren 
ders  all  prudent  men  desirous,  looking  ahead  a  little  way,  to 
adopt  a  state  of  things,  on  the  stability  of  which  they  may  have 
reason  to  count.  Such  is  the  state  of  feeling  on  the  one  side 
and  on  the  other.  I  am  anxious  to  find  out  some  principle  of 
mutual  accommodation,  to  satisfy,  as  far  as  practicable,  both 
parties — to  increase  the  stability  of  our  legislation;  and  at  some 
distant  day — but  not  too  distant,  when  we  take  into  view  the 
magnitude  of  the  interests  which  are  involved — to  bring  down 
the  rate  of  duties  to  that  revenue  .standard  for  which  our  oppo- 
nents  have  so  long  contended.  The  basis  on  which  I  wieh  to 
found  this  modification,  is  one  of  time;  and  the  several  parts  of 
the  bill  to  which  I  am  about  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate, 
are  founded  on  this  basis.  I  propose  to  give  protection  to  our 
manufactured  articles,  adequate  protection,  for  a  length  of  time, 


250  ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS. 

which,  compared  with  the  length  of  human  life,  is  very  long,  trat 
which  is  short,  in  proportion  to  the  legitimate  discretion  of  every 
wise  and  parental  system  of  government — securing  the  stability 
of  legislation,  and  allowing  time  for  a  gradual  reduction,  on  one 
side:  and  on  the  other,  proposing  to  reduce  the  duties  to  that 
revenue  standard  for  which  the  opponents  of  the  system  have  so 
long  contended.  I  will  now  proceed  to  lay  the  provisions  of  this 
bill  before  the  Senate,  with  a  view  to  draw  their  attention  to  the 
true  character  of  the  bill. 

Mr.  C.  then  proceeded  to  read  the  first  section  of  the  bill,  in 
the  words  in  which  it  will  be  found  below.  According  to  this 
section,  he  said  it  would  be  perceived  that  it  was  proposed  to 
come  down  to  the  revenue  standard  at  the  end  of  little  more 
than  nine  years  and  a  half,  giving  a  protection  to  our  own 
manufactures  which  he  hoped  would  be  adequate,  during  the 
intermediate  time.  Mr.  C.  recapitulated  the  provisions  of  the 
sections,  and  showed  by  various  illustrations  how  they  would 
operate. 

Mr.  C.  then  proceeded  to  read  and  comment  upon  the  second 
section  of  the  bill,  as  recited  below.  It  would  be  recollected,  he 
said,  that  at  the  last  session  of  Congress,  with  a  view  to  make 
a  concession  to  the  southern  section  of  the  country,  low  priced 
woollens,  those  supposed  t-o  enter  into  the  consumption  of  slaves 
and  the  poorer  classes  of  persons,  were  taken  out  of  the  general 
class  of  duties  on  woollens,  and  the  duty  on  them  reduced  to 
five  per  cent.  It  would  be  also  recollected  that  at  that  time  the 
gentlemen  from  the  south  had  said  that  this  concession  was  of 
no  consequence,  and  that  they  did  not  care  for  it,  and  he  believed 
that  they  did  not  now  consider  it  of  any  greater  importance. 
As,  therefore,  it  had  failed  of  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  taken 
out  of  the  common  class,  he  thought  it  ought  to  be  brought  back 
again,  and  placed  by  the  side  of  the  other  descriptions  of  wool 
lens,  and  made  subject  to  the  same  reduction  of  duty  as  proposed 
by  this  section. 

Having  next  read  through  the  third  section  of  the  bill,  Mr.  C. 
said  that,  after  the  expiration  of  a  term  of  years,  this  section 
laid  down  a  rule  by  which  the  duties  were  to  be  reduced  to  the 
revenue  standard,  which  had  been  so  long  and  so  earnestly  con 
tended  for.  Until  otherwise  directed,  and  in  default  of  provision 
being  made  for  the  wants  of  the  government  in  1842.  a  rule 
was  thus  provided  for  the  rate  of  duties  thereafter,  Congress 
being  in  the  mean  time  authorized  to  adopt  any  other  rule 
which  the  exigencies  of  the  country,  or  its  financial  condition, 
might  require.0  That  is  to  say,  if,  instead  of  the  duty  of  twenty 
per  cent,  proposed,  fifteen  or  seventeen  per  cent,  of  duty  was 
sufficient,  or  twenty-five  per  cent,  should  be  found  necessary,  to 
produce  a  revenue  to  defray  the  expenses  of  an  economical  ad 
ministration  of  the  government,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent 
either  of  those  rates,  or  any  other,  from  being  fixed  upon;  whilst 
the  rate  of  twenty  per  cent,  was  introduced  to  guard  against 


ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS.  251 

any  failure  on  the  part  of  Congress  to  make  the  requisite  pro 
vision  in  due  season. 

This  section  of  the  bill,  Mr.  C.  said,  contained  also  another 
clause,  suggested  by  that  spirit  of  harmony  and  conciliation 
which  he  prayed  might  preside  over  the  councils  of  the  Union 
at  this  trying  moment  It  provided  (what  those  persons  who 
are  engaged  in  manufactures  have  so  long  anxiously  required 
for  their  security)  that  duties  shall  be  paid  in  ready  money — and 
we  shall  thus  get  rid  of  the  whole  of  that  credit  system,  into 
which  an  inroad  was  made,  in  regard  to  woollens,  by  the  act  of 
the  last  session.  This  section  further  contained  a  proviso  that 
nothing  in  any  part  of  this  act  should  be  construed  to  interfere 
with  the  freest  exercise  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  lay  any 
amount  of  duties,  in  the  event  of  war  breaking  out  between 
this  country  and  any  foreign  power. 

Mr.  C.  having  then  read  the  fourth  section  of  the  bill,  said 
that  one  of  the  considerations  strongly  urged  for  a  reduction 
of  the  tariff  at  this  time  was,  that  the  government  was  likely  to 
be  placed  in  a  dilemma  by  having  an  overflowing  revenue;  and 
this  apprehension  was  the  ground  of  an  attempt  totally  to  change 
the  protective  policy  of  the  country.  The  section  which  he  had 
read,  Mr.  C.  said,  was  an  effort  to  guard  against  this  evil,  by 
relieving  altogether  from  duty  a  portion  of  the  articles  of  import 
now  subject  to  it.  Some  of  these,  he  said,  would,  under  the 
present  rate  of  duty  upon  them,  produce  a  considerable  revenue ; 
the  article  of  silks  alone  would  probably  yield  half  ti  million  of 
dollars  per  annum.  If  it  were  possible  to  pacify  present  dissen 
sions,  and  let.  tilings  take  their  course,  he  believed  that  no  diffi 
culty  need  be  apprehended.  If,  said  he,  the  bill  which  this  body 
passed  at  the  last  session  of  Congress,  and  has  again  passed  at 
this  session,  shall  pass  the  other  House,  and  become  a  law,  and 
the  gradual  reduction  of  duties  should  take  place  which  is  con 
templated  by  the  first  section  of  this  bill,  we  shall  have  settled 
tv/o  (if  not  "three)  of  the  great  questions  which  have  agitated 
this  country,  that  of  the  tariff,  of  the  public  lands,  and,  I  will... 
add,  of  internal  improvement  also.  For,  if  there  should  still  be 
a  surplus  revenue,  that  surplus  might  be  applied,  until  the  year 
1842,  to  the  completion  of  the  works  of  internal  improvement 
already  commenced;  and,  after  1842,  a  reliance  for  all  funds  for 
purposes  of  internal  improvement  should  be  placed  upon  the 
operation  of  the  land  bill,  to  which  he  had  already  referred. 

It  was  not  his  object,  Mr.  C.  said,  in  referring  to  that  measure 
in  connexion  with  that  which  he  was  about  to  propose,  to  con 
sider  them  as  united  in  their  fate,  being  desirous,  partial  as  he 
might  be  to  both,  that  each  should  stand  or  fall  upon  its  own  in 
trinsic  merits.  If  this  section  of  the  bill,  adding  to  the  number 
of  free  articles,  should  become  law,  along  with  the  reduction  of 
duties  proposed  by  the  first  section  of  the  bill,  it  was  by  no  means 
Kure  that  we  should  have  any  surplus  revenue  at  all.  He  had 
been  astonished  indeed  at  the  process  of  reasoning  by  which 


252  ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS. 

the  secretary  of  the  treasury  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that 
we  should  have  a  surplus  revenue  at  all,  though  he  admitted 
that  such  a  conclusion  could  be  arrived  at  in  no  other  way.  But 
what  was  this  process?  Duties  of  a  certain  rate  now  exist 
The  amount  which  they  produce  is  known  ;  the  secretary,  pro 
posing  a  reduction  of  the  rate  of  duty,  supposes  that  the  duties 
will  be  reduced  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  the  reduction  of 
duty.  Now,  Mr.  C.  said,  no  calculation  could  be  more  uncertain 
than  that.  Though  perhaps,  the  best  that  the  secretary  could 
have  made,  it  was  still  all  uncertainty;  dependent  upon  the 
winds  and  the  waves,  on  the  mutations  of  trade,  and  on  the 
course  of  commercial  operations.  If  there  was  any  truth  in 
political  economy,  it  could  not  be  that  the  result  would  agree 
with  the  prediction ;  for  we  are  instructed  by  all  experience  that 
the  consumption  of  any  article  is  in  proportion  to  the  reduction 
of  its  price,  and  that  in  general  it  may  be  taken  as  a  rule,  that 
the  duty  upon  an  article  forms  a  portion  of  its  price.  Mr.  C. 
said  he  did  not  mean  to  impute  any  improper  design  to  any  one; 
but,  if  it  had  been  so  intended,  no  scheme  for  getting  rid  of  the 
tariff  could  have  been  more  artfully  devised  to  effect  its  purposes, 
than  that  which  thus  calculated  the  revenue,  and  in  addition, 
assumed  that  the  expenditure  of  the  government  every  year 
would  be  so  much,  &c.  Could  any  one  here  say  what  the 
future  expenditure  of  the  government  would  be?  In  this  young, 
great,  and  growing  community,  can  we  say  what  will  be  the  ex 
penditure  of  the  government  even  a  year  hence,  much  less  what 
it  will  be,  three,  or  four,  or  five  years  hence  ?  Yet  it  had  been 
estimated,  on  assumed  amounts,  founded  on  such  uncertain  data, 
both  of  income  and  expenditure,  that  the  revenue  might  be  re 
duced  so  many  millions  a  year  ! 

Mr.  C.  asked  pardon  for  this  digression,  and  returned  to  the 
examination  of  articles  in  the  fourth  section,  which  were  proposed 
to  be  left  free  of  duty.  The  duties  on  these  articles,  he  said,  now 
varied  from  five  to  ten  per  cent,  ad  valorem ;  but  low  as  they 
were,  the  aggregate  amount  of  revenue  which  they  produced 
was  considerable.  By  the  bill  of  the  last  session,  the  duties  on 
French  silks  was  fixed  at  five  per  cent,  and  that  on  Chinese 
eilks  at  ten  per  cent.,  ad  valorem.  By  the  bill  now  proposed,  the 
duty  on  French  silks  was  proposed  to  be  repealed,  leaving  the 
other  untouched.  He  would  frankly  state  why  he  made  this 
distinction.  It  had  been  a  subject  of  anxious  desire  with  him 
to  see  our  commerce  with  France  increased.  France,  though 
not  so  large  a  customer  in  the  great  staples  of  our  country  at* 
Great  Britain,  Avas  a  great  growing  customer.  He  had  been 
much  struck  with  a  fact  going  to  prove  this,  which  accidentally 
came  to  his  knowledge  the  other  day ;  which  was,  that  within 
the  short  period  of  fourteen  years,  the  amount  of  consumption  in 
France  of  the  great  southern  staple  of  cotton  had  been  tripled. 
Again,  it  was  understood  that  the  French  silks  of  the  lower 
grades  of  quality  could  not  sustain  a  competition  with  the  Chinese 


ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS.  253 

without  some  discrimination  of  this  sort.  He  had  understood, 
also,  that  the  duty  imposed  upon  this  article  at  the  last  session 
had  been  very  much  complained  of  on  the  part  of  France  ;  and, 
considering  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  relations 
between  the  two  governments,  it  appeared  to  him  desirable 
to  make  this  discrimination  in  favor  of  the  French  product.  If 
the  Senate  should  think  differently,  he  should  be  content.  If 
indeed,  they  should  think  proper  to  strike  out  this  section  alto 
gether,  he  should  cheerfully  submit  to  their  decision. 

After  reading  the  fifth  and  sixth  sections : 

Mr.  Clay  said,  he  would  now  take  a  few  of  some  of  the  ob 
jections  which  would  be  made  to  the  bill.  It  might  be  said  that 
the  act  was  prospective,  that  it  bound  our  successors,  and  that 
we  had  no  power  thus  to  bind  them.  It  was  true  that  the  act 
was  prospective,  and  so  was  almost  every  act  which  we  ever 
passed,  but  we  could  repeal  it  the  next  day.  It  was  the  estab 
lished  usage  to  give  all  acts  a  prospective  operation.  In  every 
tariff  law  there  were  some  provisions  which  go  into  operation 
immediately,  and  others  at  a  future  time.  Each  Congress  legis 
lated  according  to  their  own  views  of  propriety ;  their  acts  did 
not  bind  their  successors,  but  created  a  species  of  public  faith 
which  would  not  rashly  be  broken.  But,  if  this  bill  should  go 
into  operation,  as  he  hoped  even  against  hope,  that  it  might,  he 
had  not  a  doubt  that  it  would  be  adhered  to  by  all  parties.  There 
was  but  one  contingency  which  would  render  a  change  necessary, 
and  that  was  the  intervention  of  a  Avar,  which  was  provided  for 
in  the  bill.  The  hands  of  Congress  were  left  untied  in  this  event, 
and  they  would  be  at  liberty  to  resort  to  any  mode  of  taxation 
which  they  might  propose.  But,  if  we  suppose  peace  to  continue, 
there  would  be  no  motive  for  disturbing  the  arrangement,  but 
on  the  contrary,  every  motive  to  carry  it  into  effect.  In  the 
next  place,  it  will  be  objected  to  the  bill,  by  the  friends  of  the 
protective  policy,  of  whom  he  held  himself  to  be  one,  for  his 
mind  was  immutably  fixed  in  favor  of  that  policy,  that  it  aban 
doned  the  power  of  protection.  But,  he  contended,  in  the  first 
place,  that  a  suspension  of  the  exercise  of  the  power  was  not  an 
abandonment  of  it;  for  the  power  was  in  the  constitution  accor 
ding  to  our  theory — was  put  there  by  its  framers,  and  could  only 
be  dislodged  by  the  people.  After  the  year  1842,  the  bill  pro 
vided  that  the  power  should  be  exercised  in  a  certain  mode. 
There  were  four  modes  by  which  the  industry  of  the  country- 
could  be  protected. 

First,  the  absolute  prohibition  of  rival  foreign  articles  that  was 
totally  unattempted  by  the  bill ;  but  it  was  competent  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  government  to  exert  the  power  whene  rer  they 
wished.  Second,  the  imposition  of  duties  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
have  no  reference  to  any  object  but  revenue.  When  we  had  a 
large  public  debt  in  1816,  the  duties  yielded  thirty-seven  millions, 
and  paid  so  much  more  of  the  debt,  and  subsequently  they  yielded 
22 


254  ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS. 

but  eight  or  ten  millions,  and  paid  so  much  less  of  the  debt 
Sometimes  we  had  to  trench  on  the  sinking  fund.  Now  we  have 
no  public  debt  to  absorb  the  surplus  revenue,  and  no  motive  for 
continuing  the  duties.  No  man  can  look  at  the  condition  of  the 
country  and  say  that  we  can  carry  on  this  system,  with  accumu 
lating  revenue,  and  no  practicable  way  of  expending  it.  The 
third  mode  was  attempted  last  session,  in  a  resolution  which  he 
had  the  honor  to  submit  last  year,  and  which  in  fact  ultimately 
formed  the  basis  of  the  act  which  finally  passed  both  houses. 
This  was  to  raise  as  much  revenue  as  wras  wanted  for  the  use 
of  the  government  and  no  more,  but  to  raise  it  from  the  protected 
and  not  from  the  unprotected  articles.  He  would  say  that  he  re 
gretted  most  deeply  that  the  greater  part  of  the  country  would  not 
suffer  this  principle  to  prevail.  It  ought  to  prevail — and  the  day, 
in  his  opinion,  would  come  when  it  would  be  adopted  as  the 
permanent  policy  of  the  country.  Shall  we  legislate  for  our 
own  wants  or  that  of  a  foreign  country?  To  protect  our  own 
interests  in  opposition  to  foreign  legislation  was  the  basis  of  this 
system.  The  fourth  mode  in  which  protection  could  be  afforded 
to  domestic  industry  was  to  admit  free  of  duty  every  article 
which  aided  the  operations  of  the  manufacturers.  These  were 
the  four  modes  for  protecting  our  industry;  and  to  those  who  say 
that  the  bill  abandons  the  power  of  protection,  he  would  reply- 
that  it  did  not  touch  that  power;  and  that  the  fourth  mode,  so 
far  from  being  abandoned,  is  extended  and  upheld  by  the  bill. 
The  most  that  can  be  objected  to  the  bill  by  those  with  whom 
he  had  co-operated  to  support  the  protective  system,  was  that, 
in  consideration  of  nine  and  a  half  years  of  peace,  certainty  and 
stability,  the  manufacturers  relinquished  some  advantages  which 
they  now  enjoyed.  What  was  the  principle  which  had  always 
been  contended  for  in  this  and  in  the  other  house?  That,  after  the 
accumulation  of  capital  and  skill,  the  manufacturers  would  stand 
alone,  unaided  by  the  government,  in  competition  with  the  im 
ported  articles  from  any  quarter.  Now  give  us  time ;  cease  all 
fluctuations  and  agitations, for  nine  years,  and  the  manufacturers, 
in  every  branch,  will  sustain  themselves  against  foreign  compe 
tition.  If  we  can  see  our  way  clearly  for  nine  years  to  come, 
we  can  safely  leave  to  posterity  to  provide  for  the  rest.  If  the 
tariff  be  overthrown,  as  may  be  its  fate  next  session,  the  country 
will  be  plunged  into  extreme  distress  and  agitation.  I,  said  Mr. 
Clay,  want  harmony.  I  wish  to  see  the  restoration  of  those  ties 
which  have  carried  ns  triumphantly  through  two  wars.  I  de 
light  not  in  this  perpetual  turmoil.  Let  us  have  peace,  and  be 
come  once  more  united  as  a  band  of  brothers. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  farming  interest  cannot  subsist  under 
a  twenty  per  cent,  ad  valorem  duty.  His  reply  was,  "sufficient 
for  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof."  He  would  leave  it  to  the  day 
when  the  reduction  took  effect,  to  settle  the  question.  When  the 
reduction  takes  place,  and  the  farmer  cannot  live  under  it,  what 
will  he  do  ?  I  will  tell  you,  said  Mr.  Clay,  what  he  ought  to  do. 


ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS.  255 

He  ought  to  try  it — make  a  fair  experiment  of  it — and  if  he  can 
not  live  under  it,  let  him  come  here  and  say  that  he  is  bankrupt, 

and  ruined.  If  then  nothing  can  be  done  to  relieve  him sir, 

I  will  not  pronounce  the  words,  for  I  will  believe  that  something 
will  be  done,  and  that  relief  will  be  afforded,  without  hazarding 
the  peace  and  integrity  of  the  Union.  This  confederacy  is  an 
excellent  contrivance,  but  it  must  be  managed  with  delicacy  and 
skill.  There  were  an  infinite  variety  of  prejudices  and  local  in 
terests  to  be  regarded,  but  they  should  all  be  made  to  yield  to 
the  Union. 

If  the  system  proposed  cannot  be  continued,  let  us  try  some 
intermediate  system,  before  we  think  of  any  other  dreadful  alter 
native.  Sir,  it  will  be  said,  on  the  other  hand — for  the  objections 
are  made  by  the  friends  of  protection  principally — that  the  time 
is  too  long ;  that  the  intermediate  reductions  are  too  inconsidera 
ble,  and  that  there  is  no  guarantee  that,  at  the  end  of  the  time 
stipulated,  the  reduction  proposed  would  be  allowed  to  take  ef 
fect.  In  the  first  place,  should  be  recollected,  the  diversified  inte 
rests  of  the  country — the  measures  of  the  government  which  pre 
ceded  the  establishment  of  manufactures — the  public  faith  in  some 
degree  pledged  for  their  security ;  and  the  ruin  in  which  rash  and 
hasty  legislation  would  involve  them.  He  would  not  dispute 
about  terms.  It  would  not,  in  a  court  of  justice,  be  maintained 
that  the  public  faith  was  pledged  for  the  protection  of  manufac 
tures;  but  there  were  other  pledges  which  men  of  honor  are 
bound  by,  besides  those  of  which  the  law  can  take  cognizance. 

If  we  excite,  in  our  neighbor,  a  reasonable  expectation  which 
induces  him  to  take  a  particular  course  of  business,  we  are  in 
honor  bound  to  redeem  the  pledge  thus  tacitly  given.  Can  any 
man  doubt  that  a  large  portion  of  our  citizens  believed  that  the 
system  would  be  permanent?  The  whole  country  expected  it 
The  security  against  any  change  of  the  system  proposed  by  the 
bill,  was  in  the  character  of  the  bill,  as  a  compromise  between 
two  conflicting  parties.  If  the  bill  should  be  taken  by  common 
consent,  as  we  hope  it  will  be — the  history  of  the  revenue  will 
be  a  guarantee  of  its  permanence.  The  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  passed  will  be  known  and  recorded — and  no  one 
will  disturb  a  system  which  was  adopted  with  a  view  to  give 
peace  and  tranquillity  to  the  country. 

The  descending  gradations  by  which  he  proposed  to  arrive  at 
the  minimum  of  duties,  must  be  gradual.  He  never  would  con 
sent  to  any  precipitate  operation  to  bring  distress  and  ruin  on  the 
community. 

Now,  said  Mr.  C.  viewing  it  in  this  light,  it  appeared  that  there 
were  eight  years  and  a  half,  and  nine  years  and  a  half,  taking 
the  ultimate  time,  which  would  be  an  efficient  protection,  the 
remaining  duties  would  be  withdrawn  by  a  biennial  reduction. 
The  protective  principle  must  be  said  to  be,  in  some  measure, 
relinquished  at  the  end  of  eight  years  and  a  half.  This  period 
could  not  appear  unreasonable,  and  he  thought  that  no  member 


256  ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS. 

of  the  Senate,  or  any  portion  of  the  country,  ought  to  make  the 
slightest  objection.  It  now  remained  for  him  to  consider  the 
other  objection — the  want  of  a  guarantee  to  there  being  an  ulte 
rior  continuance  of  the  duties  imposed  by  the  bill,  on  the  expira 
tion  of  the  term  which  it  prescribes.  The  best  guarantees  would 
be  found  in  the  circumstances  under  which  the  measure  would 
be  passed.  If  it  was  passed  by  common  consent;  if  it  was  pass 
ed  with  the  assent  of  a  portion — a  considerable  portion  of  those 
who  had  directly  hitherto  supported  this  system,  and  by  a  con 
siderable  portion  of  those  who  opposed  it — if  they  declared  their 
satisfaction  with  the  measure,  he  had  no  doubt  the  rate  of  duties 
guarantied,  would  be  continued  after  the  expiration  of  the  term, 
if  the  country  continued  at  peace.  And,  at  the  end  of  the  term, 
when  the  experiment  would  have  been  made  of  the  efficiency  of 
the  mode  of  protection  fixed  by  the  bill,  while  the  constitutional 
question  had  been  suffered  to  lie  dormant,  if  war  should  render 
it  necessary,  protection  might  be  carried  up  to  prohibition ;  while 
if  the  country  should  remain  at  peace,  and  this  measure  go  into 
full  operation,  the  duties  would  be  gradually  lowered  down  to 
the  revenue  standard,  which  had  been  so  earnestly  wished  for. 

But  suppose  that  he  wyas  wrong  in  all  these  views,  for  there 
were  no  guarantees,  in  one  sense  of  the  term,  of  human  infalli 
bility.  Suppose  a  different  state  of  things  in  the  south — that  this 
Senate,  from  causes  which  he  should  not  dwell  upon  now,  but 
which  were  obvious  to  every  reflecting  man  in  this  country — 
causes  which  had  operated  for  years  past,  and  which  continued 
io  operate — suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  there  should  be  a  ma 
jority  in  the  Senate  in  favor  of  the  southern  views,  and  that  they 
should  repeal  the  whole  system  at  once,  what  guarantee  would 
we  have  that  the  repealing  of  the  law  would  not  destroy  those 
great  interests  which  it  is  so  important  to  preserve  ?  What  gua 
rantee  would  you  have  that  the  thunders  of  those  powerful  man 
ufacturers  would  not  be  directed  against  your  capitol,  because 
of  this  abandonment  of  their  interests,  and  because  you  had  giv 
en  them  no  protection  against  foreign  legislation.  Sir.  said  Mr. 
C.  if  you  carry  your  measure  of  repeal  without  the  consent,  at 
least,  of  a  portion  of  those  who  are  interested  in  the  preservation 
of  manufactures,  you  have  no  security,  no  guarantee,  no  certain 
ty,  that  any  protection  will  be  continued.  But  if  the  measure 
should  be  carried  by  the  common  consent  of  both  parties,  we  shall 
have  all  security ;  history  will  faithfully  record  the  transaction ; 
narrate  under  what  circumstances  the  bill  was  passed ;  that  it 
was  a  pacifying  measure ;  that  it  was  as  oil  poured  from  the  ves 
sel  of  the  Union  to  restore  peace  and  harmony  to  the  country. 
When  all  this  was  known,  what  Congress,  what  Legislature, 
would  mar  the  guarantee  ?  What  man  who  is  entitled  to  de 
serve  the  character  of  an  American  statesman,  would  stand  up 
in  his  place  in  either  house  of  Congress  and  disturb  this  treaty 
of  peace  and  amity  ? 

Sir,  said  Mr.  C.,  I  will  not  say  that  it  may  not  be  disturbed. 


ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS.  257 

All  that  I  say  is,  that  here  is  all  the  reasonable  security  that  can 
be  desired  by  those  on  the  one  side  of  the  question,  and  miich 
more  than  those  on  the  other  would  have  by  any  unlbrtunate 
concurrence  of  circumstances.  Such  a  repeal  of  the  whole  sys 
tem  should  be  brought  about  as  would  be  cheerfully  acquiesced 
in  by  all  parties  in  this  country.  All  parties  might  find  in  this 
measure  some  reasons  for  objection.  And  what  human  measure 
was  there  which  was  free  from  objectionable  qualities?  It  had 
been  remarked,  and  justly  remarked,  by  the  great  lather  of  our 
country  himself,  that  if  that  great  work  which  is  the  charter  of 
our  liberties,  and  under  which  we  have  so  long  flourished,  had 
been  submitted,  article  by  article,  to  all  the  different  states  com 
posing  this  Union,  that  the  whole  would  have  been  rejected ;  and 
yet,  when  the  whole  was  presented  together,  it  was  accepted  as 
a  whole.  He  (Mr.  C.)  would  admit  that  his  friends  did  not  get 
all  they  could  wish  for ;  and  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  did 
not  obtain  all  they  might  desire  fbut  both  would  gain  all  that  in 
his  humble  opinion  was  proper  to  be  given  in  the  present  condi 
tion  of  this  country.  It  might  be  true  that  there  would  be  loss 
and  gain  in  this  measure.  But  how  was  this  loss  and  gain  dis 
tributed?  Among  our  countrymen.  What  we  lose,  no  foreign 
hand  gains  ;  and  what  we  gain,  has  been  no  loss  to  any  foreign 
power.  It  is  among  ourselves  the  distribution  takes  place.  The 
distribution  is  founded  on  that  great  principle  of  compromise  and 
concession  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  our  institutions,  which 
gave  birth  to  the  constitution  itself,  and  which  has  continued  to 
regulate  us  in  our  onward  march,  and  conducted  the  nation  to 
glory  and  renown. 

It  remained  for  him  now  to  touch  another  topic.  Objections 
had  been  made  to  all  legislation  at  this  session  of  Congress,  re 
sulting  from  the  attitude  of  one  of  the  states  of  this  confederacy. 
He  confessed  that  he  felt  a  very  strong  repugnance  to  any  legis 
lation  at  all  on  this  subject  at  the  commencement  of  the  session, 
principally  because  he  misconceived  the  purposes,  as  he  had 
found  from  subsequent  explanation,  which  that  state  had  in  view. 
Under  the  influence  of  more  accurate  information,  he  must  say 
that  the  aspect  of  things  since  the  commencement  of  the  session 
had,  in  his  opinion,  greatly  changed.  When  he  came  to  take 
his  seat  on  that  floor,  he  had  supposed  that  a  member  of  this 
Union  had  taken  an  attitude  of  defiance  and  hostility  against  the 
authority  of  the  general  government.  He  had  imagined  that  she 
had  arrogantly  required  that  we  should  abandon  7\t  once  a  sys 
tem  which  had  long  been  the  settled  policy  of  this  country. 
Supposing  that  she  had  manifested  this  feeling,  and  taken  up 
this  position,  he  (Mr.  C.)  had,  in  consequence,  felt  a  disposition 
to  hurt  defiance  back  again,  and  to  impress  upon  her  the  neces 
sity  of  the  performance  of  her  duties  as  a  member  of  this  Union. 
But  since  his  arrival  here,  he  found  that  South  Carolina  did  not 
contemplate  force,  for  it  was  denied  and  denounced  by  that  state, 
22* 


258  ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS. 

She  disclaimed  it — arid  asserted  that  she  is  merely  making  an 
experiment.  That  experiment  is  this :  by  a  course  of  state  legis 
lation,  and  by  a  change  in  her  fundamental  laws,  she  is  endea 
voring  by  her  civil  tribunals  to  prevent  the  general  government 
from  carrying  the  laws  of  the  United  States  into  operation  with 
in  her  limits.  That  she  has  professed  to  be  her  object.  Her 
appeal  was  not  to  arms,  but  to  another  power ;  not  to  the  sword, 
but  to  the  law.  He  must  say,  and  he  would  say  it  with  no  in 
tention  of  disparaging  that  state,  or  any  other  of  the  states — it 
was  a  feeling  unworthy  of  her.  As  the  purpose  of  South  Caro 
lina  was  not  that  of  force,  this  at  once  disarmed,  divested  legis 
lation  of  one  principal  objection,  which  it  appeared  to  him  existed 
against  it  at  the  commencement  of  this  session.  Her  purposes 
are  all  of  a  civil  nature.  She  thinks  she  can  oust  the  United 
States  from  her  limits;  and  unquestionably  she  had  taken  good 
care  to  prepare  her  judges  beforehand  by  swearing  them  to  de 
cide  in  her  favor.  If  we  submitted  to  her,  we  should  thus  stand 
but  a  poor  chance  of  obtaining  justice.  She  disclaimed  any  in 
tention  of  resorting  to  force  unless  we  should  find  it  indispensa 
ble  to  execute  the  Taws  of  the  Union  by  applying  force  to  her.  It 
seemed  to  him  the  aspect  of  the  attitude  of  South  Carolina  had 
changed — or  rather,  the  new  light  which  he  had  obtained,  ena 
bled  him  to  see  her  in  a  different  attitude — and  he  had  not  truly 
understood  her  until  she  had  passed  her  laws,  by  which  it  was 
intended  to  carry  her  ordinance  into  effect.  Now,  he  ventured 
to  predict  that,  the  state  to  which  he  had  referred  must  ultimately 
fail  in  her  attempt.  He  disclaimed  any  intention  of  saying  any 
thing  to  the  disparagement  of  that  state.  Far  from  it.  He 
thought  that  she  had  been  rash,  intemperate  and  greatly  in  ei»- 
ror ;  and  to  use  the  language  of  one  of  her  own  writers — made 
up  an  issue  unworthy  of  her.  He  thought  the  verdict  and  judg 
ment  must  go  against  her.  From  one  end  to  the  other  of  this  conti 
nent,  by  acclamation,  as  it  were,  nullification  had  been  put  down, 
and  put  down  in  a  manner  more  effectually  than  by  a  thousand 
wars  or  a  thousand  armies ;  by  the  irresistible  force,  by  the  mighty 
influence  of  public  opinion.  Not  a  voice  beyond  the  single  state  of 
South  Carolina  had  been  heard  in  favor  of  the  principle  of  nul 
lification,  which  she  has  asserted  by  her  own  ordinance ;  and  he 
would  say,  that  she  must  fail  in  her  lawsuit.  He  would  express 
two  opinions ;  the  first  of  which  was,  that  it  is  not  possible  for 
the  ingenuity  of  man  to  devise  a  system  of  state  legislation  to 
defeat  tlie  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  which  could 
not  be  countervailed  by  federal  legislation. 

A  state  might  take  it  upon  herself  to  throw  obstructions  in  the 
way  of  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  federal  government ;  but 
federal  legislation  can  follow  at  her  heel  quickly,  and  success 
fully  counteract  the  course  of  state  legislation.  The  framers  of 
the  constitution  foresaw  this,  and  the  constitution  has  guarded 
against  it.  What  has  it  said?  It  is  declared,  in  the  clause  enu 
merating  the  powers  of  this  government,  that  Congress  shall 


ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS.  239 

have  all  power  to  carry  into  effect  all  the  powers  granted  by  the 
constitution,  in  any  branch  of  the  government  under  the  sweep 
ing  clause — for  they  have  not  specified  contingencies,  because 
they  could  not  see  what  was  to  happen — but  whatever  powers 
were  necessary,  all,  all  are  given  to  this  government  by  the  fun 
damental  law,  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  those  powers  which 
are  vested  by  that  constitution  in  the  federal  government.  That 
is  one  reason.  The  other  is,  that  it  is  not  possible  for  any  state, 
provided  this  government  is  administered  with  prudence  and 
propriety,  so  to  shape  its  laws  as  to  throw  upon  the  general 
government  the  responsibility  of  first  resorting  to  the  employ 
ment  of  force  j  but,  if  force  at  all  is  employed,  it  must  be  bv 
state  legislation,  and  not  federal  legislation ;  and  the  responsi 
bility  of  employing  that  force  must  rest  with,  and  attach  to.  the 
state  itself. 

I  (said  Mr.  C.)  shall  not  go  into  the  details  of  this  bill.  I 
merely  throw  out  these  sentiments  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
you  that  South  Carolina,  having  declared  her  purpose  to  be  this, 
to  make  an  experiment  whether,  by  a  course  of  legislation,  in  a 
conventional  form,  or  a  legislative  form  of  enactment,  she  can 
defeat  the  execution  of  certain  laws  of  the  United  States,  I,  for 
one,  will  express  my  opinion— that  I  believe  it  is  utterly  imprac 
ticable,  whatever  course  of  legislation  she  may  choose  to  adopt, 
for  her  to  succeed.  I  am  ready,  for  one,  to  give  the  tribunals 
and  the  executive  of  the  country,  whether  that  executive  has  or 
has  not  my  confidence,  the  necessary  measures  of  power  and 
authority  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union.  But  I  would  not 
go  a  hair's  breadth  further  than  what  was  necessary  for  those 
purposes.  Up  to  that  point  I  would  go,  and  cheerfully  go ;  for 
it  is  my  sworn  duty,  as  I  regard  it,  to  go  to  that  point 

Again:  taking  this  view  of  the  subject,  South  Carolina  is  doing 
nothing  more,  except  that  she  is  doing  it  with  more  rashness, 
than  some  other  states  have  done — that  respectable  state,  Ohio, 
and,  if  he  was  not  mistaken,  the  state  of  Virginia  also.  An 
opinion  prevailed  some  years  ago,  that  if  you  put  the  laws  of  a 
slate  into  a  penal  form,  you  could  oust  federal  jurisdiction  out 
of  the  limits  of  that  state,  because  the  state  tribunals  had  an 
exclusive  jurisdiction  over  penalties  and  crimes,  and  it  was  in 
ferred  that  no  federal  court  could  wrest  the  authority  from  them. 
According  to  that  principle,  the  state  of  Ohio  passed  the  laws 
taxing  the  branch  of  the  United  States  bank,  and  high  penalties 
were  to  be  enforced  against  every  person  who  should  attempt  to 
defeat  her  taxation.  The  question  was  tried.  It  happened  to 
be  my  lot,  (said  Mr.  C.,)  to  be  counsel  at  law  to  bring  the  suit 
against  the  state,  and  to  maintain  the  federal  authority.  The 
trial  took  place  in  the  state  of  Ohio;  and  it  is  one  of  the  many 
circumstances  which  redounded  to  the  honor  of  that  patriotic 
state,  she  submitted  to  federal  force.  I  went  to  the  office  of  the 
public  treasury  myself  to  which  was  taken  the  money  of  the 
bank  of  the  United  States,  it  having  remained  there  in  eequea- 


260  ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS, 

tration  until  it  was  peaceably  rendered,  in  obedience  to  the 
decision  of  the  court,  without  any  appeal  to  arms.  In  a  building 
which  I  had  to  pass  in  order  to  reach  the  treasury,  I  saw  the 
most  brilliant  display  of  arms  and  musquetry  that  I  ever  saw  in 
my  life ;  but  not  one  was  raised  or  threatened  to  be  raised  against 
the  due  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  when  they 
were  then  enforced.  In  Virginia,  (but  I  am  not  sure  that  I  am 
correct  in  the  history  of  it,)  there  was  a  case  of  this  kind.  Per 
sons  were  liable  to  penalties  for  selling  lottery  tickets.  It  \vas 
contended  that  the  state  tribunals  had  an  exclusive  jurisdiction 
over  the  subject.  The  case  was  brought  before  the  Supreme 
Court — the  parties  were  a  Myers  and  somebody  else,  and  it 
decided  as  it  must  always  decide;  no  matter  what  obstruction — 
no  matter  what  the  state  law  may  be.  the  constitutional  laws 
of  the  United  States  must  follow  and  defeat  it,  in  its  attempt  to 
arrest  the  federal  arm  in  the  exercise  of  its  lawful  authority. 
South  Carolina  has  attempted — and,  I  repeat  it,  in  a  much  more 
offensive  way,  attempted  to  defeat  the  execution  of  the  laws  of 
the  United  States.  But  it  seems  that,  under  all  the  circumstan 
ces  of  the  case,  she  has,  for  the  present,  determined  to  stop  here, 
in  order  that,  by  our  legislation,  we  may  prevent  the  necessity  of 
her  advancing  any  further.  But  there  are  other  reasons  for  the 
expediency  of  legislation  at  this  time.  Although  I  came  here 
fully  impressed  with  a  different  opinion,  my  mind  has  now  be 
come  reconciled. 

The  memorable  first  of  February  is  past.  I  confess  I  did  feel 
an  unconquerable  repugnance  to  legislation  until  that  clay  should 
have  passed,  because  of  the  consequences  that  were  to  ensue. 
I  hoped  that  the  day  would  go  over  well.  I  feel,  and  I  think 
that  we  must  all  confess,  we  breathe  a  freer  air  than  when  the 
restraint  was  upon  us.  But  this  is  not  the  only  consideration. 
South  Carolina  has  practically  postponed  her  ordinance,  instead 
of  letting  it  go  into  effect,  till  the  fourth  of  March.  Nobody 
who  has  noticed  the  course  of  events,  can  doubt  that  she  will 
postpone  it  by  still  further  legislation,  if  Congress  should  rise 
without  any  settlement  of  this  question.  I  was  going  to  say,  my 
life  on  it.  she  will  postpone  it  to  a  period  subsequent  to  the  fourth 
of  March.  It  is  in  the  natural  course  of  events.  South  Caro 
lina  must  perceive  the  embarrassments  of  her  situation.  She 
must  be  desirous — it  is  unnatural  to  suppose  that  she  is  not — to 
remain  in  the  Union.  What!  a  state  whose  heroes  in  its  gallant 
ancestry  fought,  so  many  glorious  battles  along  with  those  of  the 
other  states  of  this  Union — a  state  with  which  this  confede 
racy  is  linked  by  bonds  of  such  a  powerful  character!  I  have 
sometimes  fancied  what  would  be  her  condition  if  she  goes  out 
of  this  Union;  if  her  five  hundred  thousand  people  should  at 
once  be  thrown  upon  their  own  resources.  She  is  out  of  the 
Union.  What  is  the  consequence?  She  is  an  independent 
power.  What  then  does  she  do  ?  She  must  have  armies  and, 
fleets,  and  an  expensive  government — have  foreign  missions — 


ON  DUTIES  AND  IMPORTS.  261 

she  must  jaise  taxes— enact  this  very  tariff,  which  had  driven 
her  out  of  the  Union,  in  order  to  enable  her  to  raise  money,  and 
to  sustain  the  attitude  of  an  independent  power.  If  she  should 
have  no  force,  no  navy  to  protect  her.  she  would  be  exposed  to 
piratical  incursions.  Their  neighbor,  St.  Domingo,  might  pour 
down  a  horde  of  pirates  on  her  borders,  and  desolate  her  planta 
tions.  She  must  have  her  embassies,  therefore  must  she  have  a 
revenue.  And,  let  me  tell  you,  there  is  another  consequence — 
an  inevitable  one ;  she  has  a  certain  description  of  persons  recog 
nized  as  property  south  of  the  Potomac,  and  west  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  which  would  be  no  longer  recognized  as  such,  except 
within  their  own  limits.  This  species  of  property  would  sink 
immediately  to  one  half  of  its  present  value,  for  it  is  Louisiana 
and  the  south-western  states  which  are  her  great  market. 

But  I  will  not  dwell  on  this  topic  any  longer.  I  say  it  is  utterly 
impossible  that  South  Carolina  ever  desired,  for  a  moment,  to 
become  a  separate  and  independent  state.  If  the  existence  of 
the  ordinance,  while  an  act  of  Congress  is  pending,  is  to  be  con 
sidered  as  a  motive  for  not  passing  that  law,  why  his  would  be. 
found  to  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  preventing  the  passing  of  any 
laws.  South  Carolina,  by  keeping  the  shadow  of  an  ordinance 
even  before  us,  as  she  has  it  in  her  power  to  postpone  it  from 
time  to  time,  would  defeat  our  legislation  forever.  I  would  repeat 
that,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the  condition  of 
South  Carolina  is  only  one  of  the  elements  of  a  combination, 
the  whole  of  which,  together,  constitutes  a  motive  of  action 
which  renders  it  expedient  to  resort,  during  the  present  session 
of  Congress,  to  some  measure  in  order  to  quiet  and  tranquillize 
the  country. 

If  there  be  any  who  want  civil  war — who  want  to  see  the 
blood  of  any  portion  of  our  countrymen  spilt — I  am  not  one  of 
them.  I  wish  to  see  war  of  no  kind;  but,  above  all,  I  do  not 
desire  to  see  a  civil  war.  When  war  begins,  whether  civil  or 
foreign,  no  human  sight  is  competent  to  foresee  when,  or  how, 
or  where  it  is  to  terminate.  But  when  a  civil  war  shall  be  lighted 
up  in  the  bosom  of  our  own  happy  land,  and  armies  are  march 
ing,  and  commanders  are  winning  their  victories,  and  fleets  are 
in  motion  on  our  coast — tell  me,  if  you  can,  tell  me  if  any  human 
being  can  tell  its  duration.  God  alone  knows  where  such  a  war 
will  end.  In  what  state  will  be  left  our  institutions?  In  what 
state  our  liberties  ?  I  want  no  war ;  above  all,  no  war  at  home. 

Sir,  I  repeat,  that  I  think  South  Carolina  has  been  rash,  intem 
perate,  and  greatly  in  the  wrong;  but  I  do  not  want  to  disgrace 
her,  nor  any  other  member  of  this  Union.  No :  I  do  not  desire 
to  see  the  lustre  of  one  single  star  dimmed,  of  that  glorious  con 
federacy  which  constitutes  our  political  sun ;  still  less  do  I  wish 
to  see  it  blotted  out,  and  its  light  obliterated  forever.  Has  not 
the  state  of  South  Carolina  been  one  of  the  members  of  this 
Union  in  "days  that  tried  men's  souls?"  Have  not  her  ances 
tors  fought  ;along  side  our  ancestors?  Have  we  notj  conjoin tly} 


262         ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OP  1832. 

won  together  many  a  glorious  battle  ?  If  we  had  to  go  into  a 
civil  war  with  such  a  state,  how  would  it  terminate?  Whenever 
it  should  have  terminated,  what  would  be  her  condition?  If  she 
should  ever  return  to  the  Union,  what  would  be  the  condition 
of  her  feelings  and  affections — what  the  state  of  the  heart  of  her 
people?  She  has  been  with  us  before,  when  her  ancestors  min 
gled  in  Ihc  throng  of  battle,  and  as  I  hope  our  posterity  will 
mingle  with  hers,  for  ages  and  centuries  to  come,  in  the  united 
defence  of  liberty,  and  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  Union.  I 
do  not  wish  to  see  her  degraded  or  defaced  as  a  member  of  this 
confederacy. 

In  conclusion,  allow  me  to  entreat  and  implore  each  individual 
member  of  this  body  to  bring  into  the  consideration  of  this 
measure,  which  I  have  had  the  honor  of  proposing,  the  same 
love  of  country  which,  if  I  know  myself,  has  actuated  me ;  and 
the  same  desire  of  restoring  harmony  to  the  Union,  which  has 
prompted  this  effort.  If  we  can  forget  for  a  moment — but  that 
would  be  asking  too  much  of  human  nature — if  we  could  surfer, 
for  one  moment  party  feelings  and  party  causes — and,  as  I  stand 
here  before  my  Gocl,  I  declare  I  have  looked  beyond  those  con 
siderations,  and  regarded  only  the  vast  interests  of  this  united 
people — I  should  hope  that,  under  such  feelings,  and  with  such 
dispositions,  we  may  advantageously  proceed  to  the  considera 
tion  of  this  bill,  and  heal,  before  they  are  yet  bleeding,  the 
wounds  of  our  distracted  country. 

Mr.  C.  concluded  with  asking  leave  to  introduce  his  bill. 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OP  1832. 

In  the  Senate  of  Ihc  United  States,  February  25,  1833,  in  vindica 
tion  of  his  bill,  entitled  "an  act  to  modify  the  act  of  the  Hth 
July,  1832,  and  alt  other  acts  imposing  duties  on  imports." 

The  bill  to  modify  the  tariffbcing  under  consideration — 
Mr.  Clay  rose  in  reply  to  Mr.  Webster,  and  said  :  being 
anxious,  Mr.  President,  that  this  bill  should  pass,  and  pass  this 
day,  I  will  abridge  as  much  as  I  can  the  observations  which  I 
am  called  upon  to  make.  I  have  long,  with  pleasure  and  pride, 
co-operated  in  the  public  service  with  the  senator  from  Massa 
chusetts;  and  I  have  found  him  faithful,  enlightened,  and  patri 
otic.  I  have  not  a  particle  of  doubt  as  to  the  pure  and  elevated 
motives  which  actuate  him.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  gives 
me  deep  and  lasting  regret  to  find  myself  compelled  to  differ 
from  him  as  to  a  measure  involving  vital  interests,  and  perhaps 
the  safety  of  the  Union.  On  the  other  hand,  I  derive  great  con 
solation  from  finding  myself  on  this  occasion,  in  the  midst  of 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1830.         263 

friends  with  whom  I  have  long  acted,  in  peace  and  in  war,  and 
especially  with  the  honorable  senator  from  Maine,  (Mr.  Holmes,) 
with  whom  I  had  the  happiness  to  unite  in  a  memorable  in 
stance.  It  was  in  this  very  chamber,  that  senator  presiding  in 
fouVoTth  ^^^  Senate,  and  I  in  the  committee  of  twenty" 
lour  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  a  Sabbath  day,  that 
the  terms  were  adjusted,  by  which  the  compromise  was  effected 
of  the  Missouri  question.  Then  the  dark  clouds  that  nun*  over 

o?hrpv        n  C°Try  W6re  disPersed;  and  now  the  thunder!  from 

)the,s  not  less  threatening,  and  which  have  been  longer  acci> 

mulatmg,  wi  1,  1  hope,  roll  over  us  harmless  and  without  injury. 

liie   senator  from  Massachusetts   objects  to  the  bill  under 

consecration  on  various  grounds.     He  Irgues  that  it  irnpo  III 

unjus  ifiable  restraints  on  the  power  of  future  legislation:  that  it 

±a^t8-  li  P1i0trective  P°licy>  and  that  the  details  of  the  bill 
are  practically  defective.  He  does  not  object  to  the  gradual,  but 
^g  incTons;derf  le>  Deduction  of  duties  which  is  mSde  prior  to 
4L  To  tnat  he  could  not  object,  because  it  is  a  species  of  pro- 
spccuvc  provision,  as  he  admits,  in  conformity  with  numerous 
precedents  on  our  statute  book.  He  does  not  object  so  much 
to  tne  Btate  of  the  proposed  law  prior  to  1842,  during  a  period 


, 

of  m  h  f°rward  to  the  termination 

>i  that  period,  he  contends  that  Congress  will  then  find  itself 

STe  fi^r^r1'  8ih,ackle8'  imp°Sed  ^  ™r  ^discretion.  In 
farst  place,  I  would  remark,  that  the  bill  contains  no  oblio-a- 
tory  pledges;  it  could  make  none;  none  are  attempted.  The 
power  over  the  subject  is  in  the  constitution  ;  put  there  by  those 
who  formed  it,  and  liable  to  be  taken  out  only  by  an  amendment 
of  the  instrument  The  next  Congress,  and  every  ^ucSncr 
Congress  will  undoubtedly  have  the  power  to  repeal  the  law 
whenever  they  may  think  proper.  Whether  they  will  exercise 

It  01    not.  WI        np.-npnH    n-nor.    o     r<~,,~,l      ,i_-  _____    ,•         J          i.     -,     . 


intero-t,  Th  I  U?°u  Iie/en?ral  harmony  and  the  common 
mtei  sts.  1  hen  the  bill  is  founded  in  a  spirit  of  compromise, 
Now  m  all  compromises  there  must  be  mutual  concessions, 
The  fnends  of  free  trade  insist  that  duties  should  be  laid  in 

C°rene  ^^     The  1Viend3  °f 


sav  thatnotT         ^          e       en3  °    American  industry 
V  tn  dim      ft.  Paramo^nt  object  in  laying  them,  should 

-o  dimmish  the  consumption  of  foreign,  and  increase  that  of 

,Pr  ,UCtS'  °n  thls  P°int  the  Parties  divide;  and  be- 
fT!  i  °PPoslte7°Pinio^,  a  reconciliation  is  to  be 
™-  T1!  be  accomPllshed-  The  bill  assumes  as  a  basis, 
5  pCti°?  f°r  nme  ^ears'  and  less  bey°nd  that  term: 
P 


rn 

to  take  a  lease  oPf  GCtl0n  Say  '°  ?eir  0PP°nents'  we  are  willing 
hPvnnrUW  •  ?™  T^'  Wlth  the  lon°  chaPter  of  accidente 
oflnn?  i  P6/10id'  mcludmS  the  chance  of  wa?,  the  restoration 
of  concord,  and  along  with  it,  a  conviction  common  to  all,  of  the 
utility  of  protection;  and  in  consideration  of  it,  if  in 
of  these  contingencies  shall  have  been  realized  we 


none 


264  ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832. 

to  submit,  as  long  as  Congress  may  think  proper,  to  a  maximum, 
rate  oi'  twenty  per  cent,  with  the  power  of  discrimination  below 
it,  cash  duties,  home  valuations,  and  a  liberal  list  of  free  articles, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  manufacturing  interest.  To  these  con 
ditions  the  opponents  of  protection  are  ready  to  accede.  The 
measure  is  what  it  professes  to  be,  a  compromise  j  but  it  imposes 
and  could  impose  no  restriction  upon  the  will  or  power  of  a 
future  Congress.  Doubtless  great  respect  will  be  paid,  as  it 
ought  to  be  paid,  to  the  serious  condition  of  the  country  that  has 
prompted  the  passage  of  this  bill.  Any  future  Congress  that 
might  disturb  this  adjustment  would  act  under  a  high  responsi 
bility,  but  it  would  be  entirely  within  iis  competency  to  repeal 
if  it  thought  proper,  the  whole  bill. 

It  is  far  from  the  object,  of  those  who  support  this  bill,  to  aban 
don  or  surrender  the  policy  of  protecting  American  industry. 
Its  protection  or  encouragement  may  be  accomplished  in  various 
ways.  1st.  By  bounties,  as  far  as  they  are  within  the  constitu 
tional  power  of  Congress  to  offer  them.  2d.  By  prohibitions, 
totally  excluding  the  foreign  rival  article.  3d.  By  high  duties, 
without  regard  to  the  aggregate  amount  of  revenue  which  they 
produce.  4th,  By  discriminating  duties  so  adjusted  as  to  limit 
the  revenue  to  the  economical  wants  of  government.  And  5thly, 
By  the  admission  of  the  raw  material,  and  articles  essential  to 
manufactures,  free  of  duty.  To  which  may  be  added  cash 
duties,  home  valuations,  and  the  regulation  of  auctions.  A 
perfect  system  of  protection  would  comprehend  most,  if  not  all 
these  modes  of  affording  it.  There  might  be,  at  this  time,  a 
prohibition  of  certain  articles,  (ardent  spirits  and  coarse  cottons, 
for  example,)  to  public  advantage.  If  there  were  not  inveterate 
prejudices  and  conflicting  opinions  prevailing,  (and  what  states 
man  can  totally  disregard  impediments  of  that  character?)  such 
a  compound  system  might  be  established. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  before  the  assertion  is  made  that  the  bill 
surrenders  the  protective  policy,  gentlemen  should  understand 
perfectly  what  it  does  not.  as  well  as  what  it  does  propose.  _  It 
impairs  no  power  of  Congress  over  the  whole  subject;  it  contains 
no  promise  or  pledge  whatever,  express  or  implied,  as  to  bounties, 
prohibitions,  or  auctions ;  it  does  not  touch  the  power  of  Con 
gress  in  regard  to  them,  and  Congress  is  perfectly  free  to  exer 
cise  that  power  at  any  time  ;  it  expressly  recognizes  discriminat 
ing  duties  within  a  prescribed  limit ;  it  provides  for  cash  duties 
and  home  valuations ;  and  it  secures  a  free  list,  embracing  nu 
merous  articles,  some  of  high  importance  to  the  manufacturing 
arts.    Of  all  the  modes  of  protection  which  I  have  enumerated, 
k  affects  only  the  third ;  that  is  to  say,  the  imposition  of  high 
duties,  producing  a  revenue  beyond  the  wants  of  government 
The  senator  from  Massachusetts  contends  that  the  policy  of 
protection  was  settled  in  1816,  and  that  it  has  ever  since  been 
maintained.     Sir,  it  was  settled  long  before  1816.     It  is  coeval 
with  the  present  constitution,  and  it  will  continue,  under  some 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  183?          265 

of  its  various  aspects,  during  tho  existence  of  the  government. 
No  nation  can  exist,  no  nation,  perhaps,  ever  existed,  without 
protection,  in  some  form,  and  to  some  extent,  being  applied  to 
its  own  industry.  The  direct  and  necessary  consequence  of 
abandoning  the  protection  of  its  own  industry,  would  be  to  sub 
ject  it  to  the  restrictions  and  prohibitions  of  foreign  powers; 
and  no  nation,  for  any  length  of  time,  can  endure  an  alien  legis 
lation,  in  which  it  has  no  will.  The  discontents  which  prevail, 
and  the  safety  of  the  republic,  may  require  the  modification  of  a 
specific  mode  of  protection,  but  it  must  be  preserved  in  some 
other  more  acceptable  shape. 

All  that  was  settled  in  1816,  in  1824,  and  in  1828,  was  that 
protection  should  be  afforded  by  high  duties,  without  regard  to  the 
amount  of  the  revenue  which  they  might  yield.  During  that 
whole  period,  we  had  a  public  debt  which  absorbed  all  the  sur 
pluses  beyond  the  ordinary  wants  of  government.  Between 
1816  and  1824,  the  revenue  was  liable  to  the  great  fluctuations, 
vibrating  between  the  extremes  of  about,  nineteen  and  thirty-six 
millions  of  dollars.  If  there  were  more  revenue,  more  debt 
was  paid ;  if  less,  a  smaller  amount  was  reimbursed.  Such  Yv'as 
sometimes  the  deficiency  of  the  revenue,  that  it  became  necessary, 
to  the  ordinary  expenses  of  government,  to  trench  upon  the  ten 
millions  annually  set  apart,  as  a  sinking  fund,  to  extinguish  the 
public  debt.  If  the  public  debt  remained  undischarged,  or  we 
nad  any  other  proper  and  practical  mode  of  appropriating  the 
surplus  revenue,  the  form  of  protection,  by  high  duties,  might  be 
continued  without  public  detriment.  It  is  the  payment  of  the 
public  debt,  then,  and  the  arrest  of  internal  improvements  by  the 
exercise  of  the  veto,  that  unsettle  that  specific  form  of  protection. 
Nobody  supposes,  or  proposes,  that  we  should  continue  to  levy 
by  means  of  high  duties,  a  large  annual  surplus,  of  which  no 
practical  use  can  be  made,  for  the  sake  of  the  incidental  protec 
tion  which  they  afford.  The  secretary  of  the  treasury  estimates 
that  surplus  on  the  existing  scale  of  duties,  and  with  the  other 
sources  of  revenue,  at  six  millions  annually.  An  annual  accu 
mulation,  at  that  rate,  would,  in  a  few  years,  bring  into  the 
the  treasury  the  whole  currency  of  the  country,  to  lie  there  in- 
ractive  and  dormant. 

This  view  of  the  condition  of  the  country  has  impressed  every 
public  man  with  the  necessity  of  some  modification  of  the  prin 
ciples  of  protection,  so  far  as  it  depends  upon  high  duties.  The 
senator  from  Massachusetts  feels  it ;  and  hence,  in  the  resolu 
tions  which  he  submitted,  he  proposes  to  reduce  the  duties,  so  as 
10  limit  the  amount  of  the  revenue  to  the  wants  of  the  govern 
ment.  With  him  revenue  is  the  principal,  protection  the  sub 
ordinate  object.  If  protection  cannot  be  enjoyed  after  such  a 
reduction  of  duties  as  he  thinks  ought  to  be  made,  it  is  not  to  be 
extended.  He  says  specific  duties,  and  the  power  of  discrimina 
tion,  are  preserved  by  his  resolutions.  So  they  may  be 
23 


266          ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832. 

the  operation  of  the  bill.  The  only  difference  between  the  two 
schemes  is,  that  the  bill,  in  the  maximum  which  it  provides, 
suggests  a  certain  limit ;  whilst  his  resolutions  lay  down  none. 
Below  that  maximum,  the  principle  of  discrimination  and  speci 
fic  duties  may  be  applied.  The  senator  from  Pennsylvania, 
(Mr.  Dallas,)  who,  equally  with  the  senator  from  Massachusetts, 
is  opposed  to  this  bill,  would  have  agreed  to  the  bill  if  it  had 
fixed  thirty  instead  of  twenty  per  centum ;  and  he  would  have 
dispensed  with  home  valuation,  and  come  down  to  the  revenue 
standard  in  five  or  six  years.  Now,  Mr.  President,  I  prefer,  and 
I  think  the  manufacturing  interest  will  prefer,  nine  years  of  ade 
quate  protection,  home  valuations,  and  twenty  per  cent,  to  the 
plan  of  the  senator  from  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  President,  I  want  to  be  perfectly  understood  as  to  the 
motives  which  have  prompted  me  to  offer  this  measure.  I  repeat 
what  I  said  on  the  introduction  of  it,  that  they  are,  first,  to  pre 
serve  the  manufacturing  interest,  and,  secondly,  to  quiet  the 
country.  I  believe  the  American  system  to  be  in  the  greatest 
danger ;  and  I  believe  it  can  be  placed  on  a  better  and  safer 
foundation  at  this  session,  than  at  the  next.  I  heard  with  sur 
prise,  my  friend  from  Massachusetts  say  that  nothing  had  oc 
curred  within  the  last  six  months  to  increase  its  hazard.  I  en- 
trea-t  him  to  review  that  opinion.  Is  it  correct?  Is  the  issue  of 
numerous  elections,  including  that  of  the  highest  officer  of  the 
government,  nothing?  Is  the  explicit  recommendation  of  that 
officer,  in  his  message  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  sustained, 
as  he  is,  by  a  recent  triumphant  election,  nothing  ?  Is  his  decla 
ration  in  his  proclamation,  that  the  burdens  of  the  south  ought 
to  be  relieved,  nothing?  Is  the  introduction  of  a  bill  into  the 
House  of  Representatives  during  this  session,  sanctioned  by  the 
head  of  the  treasury  and  the  administration,  prostrating  the 
greater  part  of  the  manufactures  of  the  country,  nothing?  Are 
the  increasing  discontents  nothing?  Is  the  tendency  of  recent 
events  to  unite  the  whole  south  nothing  ?  What  have  we  not 
witnessed  in  this  chamber  ?  Friends  of  the  administration  burst 
ing  all  the  ties  which  seemed  indissolubly  to  unite  them  to  its 
chief,  and,  with  few  exceptions  south  of  the  Potomac,  opposing, 
and  vehemently  opposing,  a  favorite  measure  of  that  adminis 
tration,  which  three  short  months  ago  they  contributed  to  estab 
lish  !  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselve.  Now  is  the  time  to  adjust 
the  question  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  both  parties.  Put  it  off 
until  the  next  session,  and  the  alternative  may,  and  probably 
then  would  be  a  speedy  and  ruinous  reduction  of  the  tariff,  or  a 
eivil  war  with  the  entire  south. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  majority  of  the  dominant  party  is 
adverse  to  the  tariff.  There  are  many  honorable  exceptions,  the 
senator  from  New  Jersey,  (Mr.  Dickerson,)  among  them.  But 
for  the  exertions  of  the  other  party,  the  tariff  would  have  been 
long  since  sacrificed.  Now  let  us  look  at  the  composition  of  the 
two  branches  of  Congress  at  the  next  session.  In  this  body 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832.          267 

we  lose  three  friends  of  the  protective  policy,  without  being  sure 
of  gaining  one.  Here,  judging  from  present  appearances,  \ve  shall 
at  the  next  session,  be  in  the  minority.  In  the  House  it  is  notori 
ous  that  there  is  a  considerable  accession  to  the  number  of  the 
dominant  party.  How,  then,  I  ask,  is  the  system  to  be  sustained 
against  numbers,  against  the  whole  weight  of  the  administration, 
against  the  united  south,  and  against  the  increased  pending  dan 
ger  of  civil  war  ?  There  is,  indeed,  one  contingency  that  might 
save  it,  but  that  is  too  uncertain  to  rely  upon.  A  certain  class 
of  northern  politicians,  professing  friendship  to  the  tariff,  have 
been  charged  with  being  secretly  inimical  to  it,  for  political 
purposes.  They  may  change  their  ground,  and  come  out  open 
and  undisguised  supporters  of  the  system.  They  may  even  find 
in  the  measure  which  I  have  brought  forward  a  motive  for  their 
conversion.  Sir,  I  shall  rejoice  in  it,  from  whatever  cause  it 
may  proceed.  And,  if  they  can  give  greater  strength  and  du 
rability  to  the  system,  and  at  the  same  time  quiet  the  discontents 
of  its  opponents,  I  shall  rejoice  still  more.  They  shall  not  find 
me  disposed  to  abandon  it,  because  it  has  drawn  succor  from  an 
unexpected  quarter. 

No,  Mr.  President,  it  is  not  destruction  but  preservation  of  the 
system  at  which  we  aim.  If  dangers  now  assail  it,  we  have 
not  created  them.  I  have  sustained  it  upon  the  strongest  and 
clearest  convictions  of  its  expediency.  They  are  entirely  unal 
tered.  Had  others,  who  avow  attachment  to  it,  supported  it 
with  equal  zeal  and  straight-forwardness,  it  wouid  be  now  free 
from  embarrassment;  but  with  them  it  has  been  a  secondary 
interest.  I  utter  no  complaints — I  make  no  reproaches.  I  wish 
only  to  defend  myself  now,  as  heretofore,  against  unjust  assaults. 
I  have  been  represented  as  the  father  of  this  system,  and  I  am 
charged  with  an  unnatural  abandonment  of  my  own  offspring. 
I  have  never  arrogated  to  myself  any  such  intimate  relation  to 
it.  I  have,  indeed,  cherished  it  with  parental  fondness,  and  rny 
affection  is  undiminished.  But  in  what  condition  do  I  find  this 
child?  It  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Philistines,  who  would  strangle 
it.  I  fly  to  its  rescue,  to  snatch  it  from  their  custody,  and  to 
place  it  on  a  bed  of  security  and  repose  for  nine  years,  where 
it  may  grow  and  strengthen,  and  become  acceptable  to  the  whole 
people.  I  behold  a  torch  about  being  applied  to  a  favorite  edi 
fice,  and  I  would  save  it,  if  possible,  before  it  is  wrapt  in  flames, 
or  at  least  preserve  the  precious  furniture  which  it  contains.  I 
wish  to  see  the  tariff  separated  from  the  politics  of  the  country, 
that  business  men  may  go  to  work  in  security,  with  some  pros 
pect  of  stability  in  our  laws,  and  without  every  thing  being 
staked  on  the  issue  of  elections  as  it  were  on  the  hazards  of 
the  die. 

And  the  other  leading  object  which  has  prompted  the  intro 
duction  of  this  measure,  the  tranquillizing  of  the  country,  is  no 
less  important.  All  wise  human  legislation  must  consult  in 
some  degree  the  passions,  and  prejudices,  and  feelings,  as  well 


268         ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832. 

as  the  interests  of  the  people.  It  would  be  vain  and  foolish  to 
proceed  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances,  upon  the  notion 
of  absolute  certainty  in  any  system,  or  infallibility  in  any  dogma, 
and  to  push  these  out  without  regard  to  any  consequences. — 
With  us,  who  entertain  the  opinion  that  Congress  is  constitu 
tionally  invested  with  power  to  protect  domestic  industry,  it  is 
a  question  of  mere  expediency  as  to  the  form,  the  degree  and 
the  time  that  the  protection  shall  be  afforded.  In  weighing  ail 
the  considerations  which  should  control  and  regulate  the  exercise 
of  that  power,  we  ought  not  to  overlook  what  is  due  to  those 
who  honestly  entertain  opposite  opinions  to  large  masses  of  the 
community,  and  to  deep,  long  cherished  and  growing  prejudices. 
Perceiving,  ourselves,  no  constitutional  impediment,  we  have 
less  difficulty  in  accommodating  ourselves  to  the  sense  of  the 

Seople  of  the  United  States  upon  this  interesting  subject.  I 
o  believe  that  a  majority  of  them  is  in  favor  of  this  policy; 
but  I  am  induced  to  believe  this  almost  against  evidence.  Two 
states  in  New-England,  which  have  been  in  favor  of  the  system, 
have  recently  come  out  against  it.  Other  states  of  the  north 
and  east  have  shown  a  remarkable  indifference  to  its  preserva 
tion.  If,  indeed,  they  have  wished  to  preserve  it,  they  have 
nevertheless  placed  the  powers  of  government  in  hands  which 
ordinary  information  must  have  assured  them  were  rather  a 
hazardous  depository.  With  us  in  the  west,  although  we  are 
not  without  some  direct,  and  considerable  indirect,  interest  in 
the  system,  we  have  supported  it  more  upon  national  than  sec 
tional  grounds. 

Meantime,  the  opposition  of  a  large  and  respectable  section 
of  the  Union,  stimulated  by  political  success,  has  increased,  and 
is  increasing.  Discontents  are  multiplying  and  assuming  new 
and  dangerous  aspects.  They  have  been  cherished  by  the 
course  and  hopes  inspired  during  this  administration,  which,  at 
the  very  moment  that  it  threatens  and  recommends  the  use  of 
the  power  of  the  whole  Union,  proclaims  aloud  the  injustice  of 
the  system  which  it  would  enforce.  These  discontents  are  not 
limited  to  those  who  maintain  the  extravagant  theory  of  nullifi 
cation;  they  are  not  confined  to  one  state;  they  are  co-extensive 
with  the  entire  south,  and  extend  even  to  northern  states.  It 
has  been  intimated,  by  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  that, 
if  we  legislate  at  this  session  on  the  tariffj  we  would  seem  to 
legislate  under  the  influence  of  a  panic.  •  I  believe,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  I  am  not  more  sensible  to  danger  of  any  kind  than  my 
fellow  men  are  generally.  It  perhaps  requires  as  muoh  moral 
courage  to  legislate  under  the  imputation  of  a  panic,  as  to 
refrain  from  it  lest  such  an  imputation  should  be  made.  But 
he  who  regards  the  present  question  as  being  limited  to  South 
Carolina  alone,  takes  a  view  of  it  much  too  contracted.  There 
is  a  sympathy  of  feeling  and  interest  throughout  the  whole 
south.  Other  southern  states  may  differ  from  that  as  to  the 
remedy  to  be  now  used,  but  all  agree  (great  as  in  my  hnmbta 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832.         269 

judgment  is  their  error,)  in  the  substantial  justice  of  the  cause. 
Can  there  be  a  doubt  that  those  who  think  in  common  will  sooner 
or  later  act  in  concert?  Events  are  on  the  wing,  and  hastening 
this  co-operation.  Since  the  commencement  of  this  session,  the 
most  powerful  southern  member  of  the  Union  has  taken  a  mea 
sure  which  cannot  fail  to  lead  to  important  consequences.  She 
has  deputed  one  of  her  most  distinguished  citizens  to  request  a 
suspension  of  measures  of  resistance.  No  attentive  observer 
can  doubt  that  the  suspension  will  be  made.  Well,  sir,  suppose 
it  takes  place,  and  Congress  should  fail  at  the  next  session  to 
afford  the  redress  which  will  be  solicited,  what  course  would 
every  principle  of  honor,  and  every  consideration  of  the  interests 
of  Virginia,  as  she  understands  them,  exact  from  her?  Would 
ehe  not  make  common  cause  with  South  Carolina?  and,  if  she 
did,  would  not  the  entire  south  eventually  become  parties  to  the 
contest?  The  rest  of  the  Union  might  put  down  the  south,  and 
reduce  it  to  submission  5  but,  to  say  nothing  of  the  uncertainty 
and  hazards  of  all  war,  is  that  a  desirable  state  of  things? — 
Ought  it  not  to  be  avoided  if  it  can  be  honorably  prevented?  I 
am  not  one  of  those  who  think  that  we  must  rely  exclusively 
upon  moral  power,  and  never  resort  to  physical  force.  I  know 
too  well  the  frailties  and  follies  of  man,  in  his  collective  as  well 
as  individual  character,  to  reject,  in  all  possible  cases,  the  em 
ployment  of  force ;  but  I  do  think  that  when  resorted  to,  espe 
cially  among  the  members  of  a  confederacy,  it  should  manifestly 
appear  to  be  the  only  remaining  appeal. 

But  suppose  the  present  Congress  terminates  without  any 
adjustment  of  the  tariff, — let  us  see  in  what  condition  its  friends 
will  find  themselves  at  the  next  session.  South  Carolina  will 
have  postponed  the  execution  of  the  law  passed  to  carry  into 
effect  her  ordinance  until  the  end  of  that  session.  All  will  be 
quiet  in  the  south  for  the  present.  The  President,  in  his  opening 
message,  will  urge  that  justice,  as  he  terms  it,  be  done  to  the 
south,  and  that  the  burdens  imposed  upon  it  by  the  tariff  be 
removed.  The  whole  weight  of  the  administration,  the  united 
south,  and  majorities  of  the  dominant  party  in  both  branches 
of  Congress,  will  be  found  in  active  co-operation.  Will  the 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts  tell  me  how  we  are  to  save  the 
tariff  against  this  united  and  irresistible  force?  They  will 
accuse  us  of  indifference  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and 
of  being  willing  to  expose  the  country  to  the  dangers  of  civil 
war.  The  fact  of  South  Carolina  postponing  her  ordinance,  at 
the  instance  of  Virginia,  and  once  more  appealing  to  the  justice 
of  Congress,  will  be  pressed  with  great  emphasis  and  effect.  It 
does  appear  to  me  impossible  that  we  can  prevent  a  most  injuri 
ous  modification  of  the  tariff  at  the  next  session,  and  that  this  is 
the  favorable  moment  for  an  equitable  arrangement  of  it.  I 
have  been  subjected  to  animadversion  for  the  admission  of  the 
fact,  that,  at  the  next  session,  our  opponents  will  be  stronger,  and 


270         ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832. 

the  friends  of  the  American  system  weaker  than  they  are  in  this 
Congress.  But  is  it  not  so?  And  is  it  not  the  duty  of  every 
man  who  aspires  to  be  a  statesman  to  look  at  naked  facts  as  they 
really  are?  Must  he  suppress  them?  Ought  he,  like  children, 
te  throw  the  counterpane  over  his  eyes,  and  persuade  himself 
that  he  is  secure  from  danger?  Are  not  our  opponents  as  well 
informed  as  we  are  about  their  own  strength? 

If  we  adjourn,  without  any  permanent  settlement  of  the  tariff, 
in  what  painful  suspense  and  terrible  uncertainty  shall  we  not 
leave  the  manufacturers  and  business  men  of  the  country?  All 
eyes  will  be  turned,  with  trembling  and  fear,  to  the  next  session. 
Operations  will  be  circumscribed,  and  new  enterprizes  checked, 
or,  if  otherwise,  ruin  and  bankruptcy  may  be  the  consequence. 
I  believe,  sir,  this  measure,  which  offers  a  reasonable  guarantee 
for  permanence  and  stability,  will  be  hailed  by  practical  men  with 
pleasure.  The  political  manufacturers  may  be  against  it,  but  it 
will  command  the  approbation  of  a  large  majority  of  the  business 
manufacturers  of  the  country. 

But  the  objections  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts  are  principally  directed  to  the  period  beyond  1842.  During 
the  intermediate  time,  there  is  every  reason  to  hope  and  believe 
that  the  bill  secures  adequate  protection.  All  my  information 
assures  me  of  this;  and  it  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact,  that,  if 
the  measure  of  protection,  secured  prior  to  the  31st  December, 
1841,  were  permanent,  or  if  the  bill  were  even  silent  beyond 
that  period,  it  would  command  the  cordial  and  unanimous  con 
currence  of  the  friends  of  the  policy.  What  then  divides,  what 
alarms  us?  It  is  what  may  possibly  be  the  state  of  things  in  the 
year  one  thousand  ei^ht  hundred  and  forty-two,  or  subsequent 
ly!  Now,  sir,  even  if  that  should  be  as  bad  as  the  most  vivid 
imagination  or  the  most  eloquent  tongue  could  depict  it,  if  we 
have  intermediate  safety  and  security,  it  does  not  seem  to  me 
wise  to  rush  upon  certain  and  present  evils,  because  of  those 
which,  admitting  their  possibility,  are  very  remote  and  contin 
gent.  What !  shall  we  not  extinguish  the  flame  which  is  burst 
ing  through  the  roof  that  covers  us.  because,  at  some  future  and 
distant  day,  we  may  be  again  threatened  with  conflagration  ? 

I  do  not  admit  that  this  bill  abandons,  or  fails  by  its  provisions 
to  secure  reasonable  protection  beyond  1842.  I  cannot  know,  I 
pretend  not  to  know,  what  will  then  be  the  actual  condition  of 
this  country,  and  of  the  manufacturing  arts,  and  their  relative 
condition  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  I  would  as  soon  confide  in 
the  forecast  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  as  in 
that  of  any  other  man  in  this  Senate,  or  in  this  country :  but  he, 
nor  any  one  else,  can  tell  what  that  condition  will  then  be.  The 
degree  of  protection  which  will  be  required  for  domestic  industry 
beyond  1842,  depends  upon  the  reduction  of  wages,  the  accumu 
lation  of  capital,  the  improvement  in  skill,  the  protection  of  ma 
chinery,  and  the  cheapening  of  the  price,  at  home,  of  essential 
articles,  suqh  as  fuel,  iron,  &c.  I  do  not  think  that  the  honora- 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832,         271 

ble  Senator  can  throw  himself  forward  to  1842,  and  tell  us  what, 
in  all  these  particulars,  will  be  the  state  of  this  country,  and  ite 
relative  state  to  other  countries.  We  know  that,  in  all  human 
probability,  our  numbers  will  be  increased  by  an  addition  of  one- 
third,  at  least,  to  their  present  amount,  and  that  may  materially 
reduce  wages.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  our  capital  will 
be  augmented,  our  skill  improved ;  and  we  know  that  great  pro 
gress  has  been  made,  and  is  making,  in  machinery.  There  is  a 
constant  tendency  to  decrease  in  the  price  of  iron  and  coal.  The 
opening  of  new  mines,  and  new  channels  of  communication,  must 
continue  to  lower  it.  The  successful  introduction  of  the  process 
of  coking  would  have  great  effect.  The  price  of  these  articles, 
one  of  the  most  opulent  and  intelligent  manufacturing  houses  in 
this  country  assures  me,  is  a  principal  cause  of  the  present  ne 
cessity  of  protection  to  the  cotton  interest ;  and  that  house  is 
strongly  inclined  to  think  that  20  per  cent,  with  the  other  advan 
tages  secured  in  this  bill,  may  do  beyond  1842..;  Then,  sir,  what 
effect  may  not  convulsions  and  revolutions  in  Europe,  if  any 
should  arise,  produce  ?  I  am  far  from  desiring  them,  that  our 
country  may  profit  by  their  occurrence.  Her  greatness  and  glory 
rest,  I  hope,  upon  a  more  solid  and  more  generous  basis.  But 
we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact,  that  our  greatest  manufac 
turing,  as  well  as  commercial  competitor,  is  undergoing  a  mo 
mentous  political  experiment,  the  issue  of  which  is  far  from  being 
absolutely  certain.  Who  can  raise  the  veil  of  the  succeeding 
nine  years,  and  show  what,  at  their  termination,  will  be  the  de 
gree  of  competition  which  Great  Britain  can  exercise  towards  ui 
in  the  manufacturing  arts? 

Suppose,  in  the  progress  of  gradual  descent  towards  the  reve 
nue  standard,  for  which  this  bill  provides,  it  should,  some  years 
hence,  become  evident  that  further  protection,  beyond  1842,  than 
that  which  it  contemplates,  may  be  necessary,  can  it  be  doubted 
that,  in  some  form  or  other,  it  will  be  applied?  Our  misfortune 
has  been,  and  yet  is,  that  the  public  mind  has  been  constantly 
kept  in  a  state  of  feverish  excitement  in  respect  to  this  system 
of  policy.  Conventions,  elections,  Congress,  the  public  press, 
have  been  for  years  all  acting  upon  the  tariff,  and  the  tariff  act 
ing  upon  them  all.  Prejudices  have  been  excited,  passions  kin 
dled,  and  mutual  irritations  carried  to  the  highest  pitch  of  exas 
peration,  insomuch  that  good  feelings  have  been  almost  extin 
guished,  and  the  voice  of  reason  and  experience  silenced,  among 
the  members  of  the  confederacy.  Let  us  separate  the  tariff  from 
the  agitating  politics  of  the  country,  place  it  upon  a  stable  and 
firm  foundation,  and  allow  our  enterprising  countrymen  to  de 
monstrate  to  the  whole  Union,  by  their  skilful  and  successful  la 
bors,  the  inappreciable  value  of  the  arts.  If  they  can  have,  what 
they  have  never  yet  enjoyed,  some  years  of  repose  and  tranquil 
lity,  they  will  make,  silently,  more  converts  to  the  policy,  than 
would  be  made  during  a  long  period  of  anxious  struggle  and 
boisterous  contention.  Above  all,  I  count  upon  the  good  effects 


272  ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OP  1832. 

resulting  from  a  restoration  of  the  harmony  of  this  divided  peo 
ple,  upon  their  good  sense  and  their  love  of  justice.  Who  can 
doubt,  that  when  passions  have  subsided,  and  reason  has  resumed 
her  empire,  that  there  will  be  a  disposition  throughout  the  whole 
Union  to  render  ample  justice  to  all  its  parts  ?  Who  will  believe 
that  any  section  of  this  great  confederacy  would  look  with  indif 
ference  to  the  prostration  of  the  interests  of  another  section,  by 
distant  and  selfish  foreign  nations,  regardless  alike  of  the  welfare 
of  us  all  ?  No,  sir ;  I  have  no  fears  beyond  1842.  The  people  of 
the  United  States  are  brethren,  made  to  love  and  respect  each 
other.  Momentary  causes  may  seem  to  alienate  them,  but,  like 
family  differences,  they  will  terminate  in  a  closer  and  more  af 
fectionate  union  than  ever.  And  how  much  more  estimable  will 
be  a  system  of  protection,  based  on  common  conviction  and  com 
mon  consent,  and  planted  in  the  bosoms  of  all,  than  one  wrench 
ed  by  power  from  reluctant  and  protesting  weakness  ? 

That  such  a  system  will  be  adopted,  if  it  should  be  necessary 
for  the  period  of  time  subsequent  to  1842,  I  will  not  doubt.  But, 
in  the  scheme  which  I  originally  proposed,  I  did  not  rely  exclu 
sively,  great  as  my  reliance  is,  upon  the  operation  of  fraternal 
feelings,  the  return  of  reason,  and  a  sense  of  justice.  The  scheme 
contained  an  appeal  to  the  interests  of  the  south.  According  to 
it,  unmanufactured  cotton  was  to  be  a  free  article  after  1842. 
Gentlemen  from  that  quarter  have  again  and  again  asserted  that 
they  were  indifferent  to  the  duty  of  three  cents  per  pound  on  cotton, 
and  that  they  feared  no  foreign  competition.  I  have  thought  oth 
erwise;  but  I  was  willing,  by  way  of  experiment,  to  take  them  at 
their  word ;  not  that  I  was  opposed  to  the  protection  of  cotton, 
but  believing  that  a  few  cargoes  of  foreign  cotton  introduced  into 
our  northern  ports,  free  of  duty,  would  hasten  our  southern  friends 
to  come  here  and  ask  that  protection  for  their  great  staple,  which 
is  wanted  in  other  sections  for  their  interests.  That  feature  in 
the  scheme  was  stricken  out  in  the  select  committee,  but  not  by 
the  consent  of  my  friend  from  Delaware  (Mr.  Clayton)  or  my 
self.  Still,  after  1842,  the  south  may  want  protection  for  sugar, 
for  tobacco,  for  Virginia  coal,  perhaps  for  cotton  and  other  arti 
cles,  whilst  other  quarters  may  need  it  for  wool,  woollens,  iron 
and  cotton  fabrics ;  and  these  mutual  wants,  if  they  should  exist, 
will  lead,  I  hope,  to  some  amicable  adjustment  of  a  tariff  for  that 
distant  period,  satisfactory  to  all.  The  theory  of  protection  sup 
poses,  too.  that,  after  a  certain  time,  the  protected  arts  will  have 
acquired  such  strength  and  perfection  as  will  enable  them  subse 
quently,  unaided,  to  stand  up  against  foreign  competition.  If,  as 
I  have  no  doubt,  this  should  prove  to  be  correct,  it  will,  on  the 
arrival  of  1842,  encourage  all  parts  of  the  Union  to  consent  to 
the  continuance  of  longer  protection  to  the  few  articles  which 
may  then  require  it. 

The  bill  before  us  strongly  recommends  itself  by  its  equity 
and  impartiality.  It  favors  no  one  interest,  and  no  one  state,  by 
art  unjust  sacrifice  of  others.  It  deals  equally  by  all.  Its  basis 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OP  1832.         273 

is  the  act  of  July  last.  That  act  was  passed  after  careful  and 
thorough  investigation,  and  long  deliberation,  continued  through 
several  months.  Although  it  may  not  have  been  perfect  in  its 
adjustment  of  the  proper  measure  of  protection  to  each  article 
which  was  supposed  to  merit  it,  it  is  not  likely  that,  even  with 
the  same  length  of  time  before  us,  we  could  make  one  more  per 
fect.  Assuming  the  justness  of  that  act,  the  bill  preserves  the 
respective  propositions  for  which  the  act  provides,  and  subjects 
them  all  to  the  same  equal  but  moderate  reduction,  spread  over 
the  long  space  of  nine  years.  The  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
contends  that  a  great  part  of  the  value  of  all  protection  is  given 
up  by  dispensing  with  specific  duties  and  the  principle  of  dis*- 
crimination.  But  much  the  most  valuable  articles  of  our  domes 
tic  manufactures  (cotton  and  woollens,  for  example)  have  never 
enjoyed  the  advantage  of  specific  duties.  They  have  always 
been  liable  to  ad  valorem  duties,  with  a  very  limited  application 
of  the  minimum  principle.  The  bill  does  not,  however,  even  af 
ter  1842,  surrender  either  mode  of  laying  duties.  Discrimina 
tions  are  expressly  recognised  below  the  maximum,  and  specific 
duties  may  also  be  imposed,  provided  they  do  not  exceed  it. 

The  honorable  Senator  also  contends  that  the  bill  is  imperfect, 
and  that  the  execution  of  it  will  be  impracticable.  He  asks,  how 
is  the  excess  above  20  per  cent,  to  be  ascertained  on  coarse  and 
printed  cottons,  liable  to  minimums  of  30  and  35  cents,  and  sub 
ject  to  a  duty  of  25  per  cent,  ad  valorem  ;  and  how  is  it  to  be 
estimated  in  the  case  of  specific  duties?  Sir,  it  is  very  probable 
that  the  bill  is  not  perfect,  but  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  any 
thing  impracticable  in  its  execution.  Much  will,  however,  de 
pend  upon  the  head  of  the  treasury  department.  In  the  instance 
of  the  cotton  minimums,  the  statute  having,  by  way  of  exception 
to  the  general  ad  valorem  rule,  declared^  in  certain  cases,  how 
the  value  shall  be  estimated,  that  statutory  value  ought  to  gov 
ern;  and  consequently  the  20  per  cent,  should  be  exclusively  de- 
>ducted  from  the  25  per  cent,  being  the  rate  of  duties  to  which 
cottons  generally  are  liable ;  and  the  biennial  tenths  should  be 
subtracted  from  the  excess  of  five  per  cent.  With  regard  to  spe 
cific  duties,  it  will,  perhaps,  be  competent  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  in  the  execution  of  the  law,  for  the  sake  of  certainty, 
to  adopt  some  average  value,  founded  upon  importations  of  a 
previous  year.  But  if  the  value  of  each  cargo,  and  every  part 
of  it,  is  to  be  ascertained,  it  would  be  no  more  than  what  now  is 
the  operation  in  the  case  of  woollens,  silks,  cottons  above  30  and 
35  cents,  and  a  variety  of  other  articles  ;  and  consequently  there 
would  be  no  impracticability  in  the  law. 

To  all  defects,  however,  real  or  imaginary,  which  may  be  sup 
posed  will  arise  in  the  execution  of  The  principle  of  the  bill,  I 
oppose  one  conclusive,  and,  I  hope,  satisfactory  answer.  Con 
gress  will  be  in  session  one  whole  month  before  the  commence 
ment  of  the  law;  and  if,  in  the  mean  time,  omissions  calling  for 
further  legislation  shall  be  discovered,  there  will  be  more  tim« 


274         ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OP  1832. 

then  than  we  have  now  to  supply  them.  Let  us,  on  this  occasion 
of  compromise,  pursue  the  example  of  our  fathers,  who,  under 
the  influence  of  the  same  spirit,  in  the  adoption  of  the  constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  determined  to  ratify  it,  and  go  for 
amendments  afterwards. 

To  the  argument  of  the  senator  from  Massachusetts,  that  this 
interest,  and  that  and  the  other  cannot  be  sustained  under  the 
protection  beyond  1842, 1  repeat  the  answer  that  no  one  can  now 
tell  what  may  then  be  necessary.  That  period  will  provide  for 
itself.  But  1  was  surprised  to  hear  my  friend  singling  out  iron 
as  an  article  that  would  be  most  injuriously  affected  by  the  ope 
ration  of  this  bill.  If  I  am  not  greatly  mistaken  in  my  recol 
lection,  he  opposed  and  voted  against  the  act  of  1824,  because  of 
the  high  duty  imposed  on  iron.  E4ut  for  that  duty,  (and  perhaps 
the  duty  on  hemp),  which  he  then  considered  threw  an  unrea 
sonable  burden  upon  the  navigation  of  the  country,  he  would 
have  supported  that  a»t.  Of  all  the  articles  to  which  protecting 
duties  are  applied,  iron,  and  the  manufactures  of  iron,  enjoy 
the  highest  protection.  During  the  term  of  nine  years,  the  de 
ductions  from  the  duty  are  not  such  as  seriously  to  impair 
those  great  interests,  unless  all  my  information  deceives  me;  and 
beyond  that  period  the  remedy  has  been  already  indicated. 
Let  me  suppose  that  the  anticipations  which  I  form  upon  the  re 
storation  oi:  concord  and  confidence  shall  be  all  falsified ;  that 
neither  the  sense  of  fraternal  affection  nor  common  justice, 
nor  even  common  interests,  will  lead  to  an  amicable  adjustment 
of  the  tariff  beyond  1842.  Let  me  suppose  that  period  has  ar 
rived,  and  that  the  provisions  of  the  bill  shall  be  interpreted  as 
an  obligatory  pledge  upon  the  Congress  of  that  clay;  and  let  me 
.suppose  also  that  a  greater  amount  of  protection  than  the  bill 
provides  is  absolutely  necessary  to  some  interests,  what  is  to  be 
done  ?  Regarded  as  a  pledge,  it  does  not  bind  Congress  forever 
ito  adhere  to  the  specific  rate  of  duty  contained  in  the  bill.  The 
most,  in  that  view,  that  it  exacts,  is  to  make  a  fair  experiment. 
If,  after  such  experiment,  it  should  be  demonstrated  that,  under 
guch  an  arrangement  of  the  tariff,  the  interests  of  large  portions 
of  the  Union  would  be  sacrificed,  and  they  exposed  to  ruin,  Con 
gress  will  be  competent  to  apply  some  remedy  that  will  be  effec 
tual  ;  and  I  hope  and  believe  that,  in  such  a  contingency,  some 
will  be  devised  that  may  preserve  the  harmony  and  perpetuate 
the  blessings  of  the  Union. 

It  has  been  alledged  that  there  will  be  an  augmentation,  in 
stead  of  a  diminution  of  revenue  under  the  operation  of  this  bill. 
I  feel  quite  confident  of  the  reverse;  but  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  both  contingencies  are  carefully  provided  for  in  the  bill, 
without  affecting  the  protected  articles. 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  dislikes  the  measure,  be 
cause  it  commands  the  concurrence  of  those  who  have  been 
hitherto  opposed,  in  regard  to  the  tariff;  and  is  approved  by  the 
gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  (Mr.  Calhoun)  as  well  as  by 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832.         275 

myself.  Why,  sir,  the  gentleman  has  told  us  that  he  is  not 
opposed  to  any  compromise.  Will  he  be  pleased  to  say  how 
any  compromise  can  be  effected,  without  a  concurrence  between 
those  who  had  been  previously  divided,  and  taking  some  me 
dium  between  the  two  extremes?  The  wider  the  division  may 
have  been,  so  much  the  better  for  the  compromise,  which  ought 
to  be  judged  of  by  its  nature  and  by  its  terms,  and  not  solely  by 
those  who  happen  to  vote  for  it.  It  is  an  adjustment  to  which 
both  the  great  interests  in  this  country  may  accede  without 
either  being  dishonored.  The  triumph  of  neither  is  complete. 
Each,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  harmony,  and  union,  makes  some 
concessions.  The  south  has  contended  that  every  vestige  of 
protection  should  be  eradicated  from  the  statute  book,  and  the 
revenue  standard  forthwith  adopted.  In  assenting  to  this  bill, 
it  waives  that  pretension — yields  to  reasonable  protection  for 
nine  years ;  and  consents,  in  consideration  of  the  maximum  of 
twenty  per  cent,  to  be  subsequently  applied,  to  discriminations 
below  it,  cash  duties,  home  valuations,  and  a  long  list  of  free 
articles.  The  north  and  west  have  contended  for  the  practical 
application  of  the  principle  of  protection,  regulated  by  no  other 
limit  than  the  necessary  wants  of  the  country.  If  they  accede  to 
this  adjustment,  they  agree,  in  consideration  of  the  stability  and 
certainty  which  nine  years'  duration  of  a  favorite  system  of 
policy  affords,  and  of  the  other  advantages  which  have  been 
enumerated,  to  come  down  in  1842  to  a  limit  not  exceeding 
twenty  per  cent.  Both  parties,  animated  by  a  desire  to  avert 
the  evils  which  might  flow  from  carrying  out  into  all  their  conse 
quences  the  cherished  system  of  either,  have  met  upon  common 
ground,  made  mutual  and  friendly  concessions,  and,  I  trust,  arid 
sincerely  believe,  that  neither  will  have,  hereafter,  occasion  to 
regret,  as  neither  can  justly  reproach  the  other  with  what  may 
be  now  done. 

This,  or  some  other  measure  of  conciliation,  is  now  more  than 
ever  necessary,  since  the  passage,  through  the  senate,  of  the  en 
forcing  bill.  To  that  bill,  if  I  had  been  present,  on  the  final  vote, 
I  should  have  given  my  assent,  although  with  great  reluctance. 
I  believe  this  government  not  only  possessed  of  the  constitutional 
power,  but  to  be  bound  by  every  consideration,  to  maintain  the 
authority  of  the  laws.  But  I  deeply  regretted  the  necessity 
which  seemed  to  me  to  require  the  passage  of  such  a  bill.  And 
I  was  far  from  being  without  serious  apprehensions  as  to  thf 
consequences  to  which  it  might  lead.  I  felt  no  new  born  zea1 
in  favor  of  the  present  administration,  of  which  I  now  think  a< 
I  have  always  thought.  I  could  not  vote  against  the  measure  ' 
I  would  not  speak  in  its  behalf.  I  thought  it  most  proper  in  m< 
to  leave  to  the  friends  of  the  administration  and  to  others,  wh* 
might  feel  themselves  particularly  called  upon,  to  lefend  and 
sustain  a  strong  measure  of  the  administration.  With  respect 
to  the  series  of  acts  to  which  the  executive  has  resorted,  in  re 
lation  to  our  southern  disturbance,  this  is  not  a  fit  occasion  t» 


276         ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OF  1832. 

enter  upon  a  full  consideration  of  them;  but  I  will  "briefly  say, 
that,  although  the  proclamation  is  a  paper  of  uncommon  ability 
and  eloquence,  doing  great  credit,  as  a  composition,  to  him  who 
prepared  it,  and  to  him  who  signed  it,  I  think  it  contains  some 
ultra  doctrines,  which  no  party  in  this  country  had  ventured  to 
assert.  With  these  are  mixed  up  many  sound  principles  and 
just  views  of  our  political  systems.  If  it  is  to  be  judged  by  its 
effects  upon  those  to  whom  it  was  more  immediately  addressed, 
it  must  be  admitted  to  have  been  ill  timed  and  unfortunate. 
Instead  of  allaying  the  excitement  which  prevailed,  it  increased 
the  exasperation  in  the  infected  district,  and  afforded  new  and 
unnecessary  causes  of  discontent  and  dissatisfaction  in  the  south 
generally.  The  message,  subsequently  transmitted  to  Congress, 
communicating  the  proceedings  of  South  Carolina,  and  calling 
for  countervailing  enactments,  was  characterized  with  more 
prudence  and  moderation.  And,  if  this  unhappy  contest  is  to 
continue,  I  sincerely  hope  that  the  future  conduct  of  the  adminis 
tration  may  be  governed  by  wise  and  cautious  counsels,  and  a 
parental  forbearance.  But  when  the  highest  degree  of  animosity 
exists;  when  both  parties,  however  unequal,  have  arrayed 
themselves  for  the  conflict,  who  can  tell  when,  by  the  indiscre 
tion  of  subordinates,  or  other  unforeseen  causes,  the  bloody 
struggle  may  commence?  In  the  midst  of  magazines,  who 
knows  when  the  fatal  spark  may  produce  a  terrible  explosion  ? 
And  the  battle  once  begun  where  is  its  limit?  What  latitude 
will  circumscribe  its  rage?  Who  is  to  command  our  armies ? 
When,  and  where,  and  how  is  the  war  to  cease?  In  what  con 
dition  will  the  peace  leave  the  American  system,  the  American 
Union,  and,  what  is  more  than  all,  American  liberty?  I  cannot 
profess  to  have  a  confidence,  which  I  have  not,  in  this  adminis 
tration,  but  if  I  had  all  confidence  in  it,  I  should  still  wish  to 
pause,  and,  if  possible,  by  any  honorable  adjustment,  to  prevent 
awful  consequences,  the  extent  of  which  no  human  wisdom  can 
foresee. 

It  appears  to  me  then,  Mr.  President,  that  we  ought  not  to 
content  ourselves  with  passing  the  enforcing  bill  only.  Both 
that  and  the  bill  of  peace  seem  to  me  to  be  required  for  the  good 
of  our  country.  The  first  will  satisfy  all  who  love  order  and 
law,  and  disapprove  the  inadmissible  doctrine  of  nullification. 
The  last  will  soothe  those  who  love  peace  and  concord,  harmony 
and  union.  One  demonstrates  the  power  and  the  disposition  to 
vindicate  the  authority  and  supremacy  of  the  laws  of  the  Union; 
the  other  offers  that  which,  if  it  be  accepted  in  the  fraternal 
•pirit  in  which  it  is  tendered,  will  supersede  the  necessity  of  the 
•mployment  of  all  force. 

There  are  some  who  say,  let  the  tariff  go  down;  let  our  manu 
factures  be  prostrated,  if  such  be  the  pleasure,  at  another  session, 
of  those  to  whose  hands  the  government  of  this  country  is  con 
fided:  let  bankruptcy  and  ruin  be  spread  over  the  land :  and 
lit  resistance  to  the  laws,  at  all  hazards,  be  subdued.  Sir,  they 


ON  THE  COMPROMISE  BILL  OP  1832.         277 

take  counsel  from  their  passions.  They  anticipate  a  terrible  re 
action  from  the  downfall  of  the  tariff,  which  would  ultimately 
re-establish  it  upon  a  firmer  basis  than  ever.  But  it  is  these 
very  agitations,  these  mutual  irritations  between  brethren  of  the 
same  family,  it  is  the  individual  distress  and  general  ruin  that 
would  necessarily  follow  the  overthrow  of  the  tariff,  that  ought, 
if  possible  to  be  prevented.  Besides  are  we  certain  of  this  re 
action  ?  Have  we  not  been  disappointed  in  it  as  to  other  mea 
sures  heretofore?  But  suppose,  after  a  long  and  embittered 
struggle,  it  should  come,  in  what  relative  condition  would  it  find 
the  parts  of  this  confederacy  ?  In  what  state  our  ruined  manu 
factures  ?  When  they  should  be  laid  low,  who,  amidst  the  frag 
ments  of  the  general  wreck,  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  land, 
would  have  courage  to  engage  in  fresh  enterprises,  under  a  new 
pledge  of  the  violated  faith  of  the  government?  If  we  adjourn, 
without  passing  this  bill,  having  entrusted  the  executive  with 
vast  powers  to  maintain  the  laws,  should  he  be  able  by  the 
next  session  to  put  down  all  opposition  to  them,  will  he  not, 
as  a  necessary  consequence  of  success,  have  more  power  than 
ever  to  put  down  the  tariff  also  ?  Has  he  not  said  that  the 
couth  is  oppressed,  and  its  burdens  ought  to  be  relieved  ?  And 
will  he  not  feel  himself  bound,  after  he  shall  have  triumphed,  if 
triumph  he  may  in  a  civil  war,  to  appease  the  discontents  of  the 
south  by  a  modification  of  the  tariff,  in  conformity  with  its 
wishes  and  demands  ?  No,  sir ;  no,  sir ;  let  us  save  the  country 
from  the  most  dreadful  of  all  calamities,  and  let  us  save  its  in 
dustry  too,  from  threatened  destruction.  Statesmen  should  reg 
ulate  their  conduct  and  adapt  their  measures  to  the  exigencies 
of  the  times  in  which  they  live.  They  cannot,  indeed,  transcend 
the  limits  of  the  constitutional  rule ;  but  with  respect  to  those 
systems  of  policy  which  fall  within  its  scope,  they  should  arrange 
them  according  to  the  interests,  the  wants,  and  the  prejudices  of 
the  people.  Two  great  dangers  threaten  the  public  safety.  The 
true  patriot  will  not  stop  to  inquire  how  they  have  been  brought 
about,  but  will  fly  to  the  deliverance  of  his  country.  The  dif 
ference  between  the  friends  and  the  foes  of  the  compromise, 
under  consideration,  is,  that  they  would,  in  the  enforcing  act, 
send  forth  alone  a  flaming  sword.  We  would  send  out  that 
also,  but  along  with  it  the  olive  branch,  as  a  messenger  of  peace. 
They  cry  out,  the  law !  the  law!  the  law!  Power!  power!  power! 
We,  too,  reverence  the  law,  and  bow  to  the  supremacy  of  its 
obligation ;  but  we  are  in  favor  of  the  law  executed  in  mild 
ness,  and  of  power  tempered  with  mercy.  They,  as  we  thinly 
would  hazard  a  civil  commotion,  beginning  in  South  Carolina 
and  extending  God  only  knows  where.  While  we  would  rindi- 
cate  the  authority  of  the  Federal  government,  we  are  for  peace, 
if  possible,  union  and  liberty.  We  want  no  war,  above  all,  no 
civil  war,  no  family  strife.  We  want  to  see  no  sacked  cities,  BO 
24 


278         ON  THE  COMPROMISE   BILL  OF  1832. 

desolated  fields,  no  smoking  ruins,  no  streams  of  American  blood 
shed  by  American  arms  ! 

I  have  been  accused  of  ambition  in  presenting  this  measure. 
Ambition  !  inordinate  ambition  !  If  I  had  thought  of  myself  only 
I  should  have  never  brought  it  forward.  I  know  well  the  perils 
to  which  I  expose  myself;  the  risk  of  alienating  faithful  and 
valued  friends,  with  but  little  prospect  of  making  new  ones,  if 
any  new  ones  could  compensate  for  the  loss  of  those  whom  we 
have  long  tried  and  loved ;  and  the  honest  misconceptions  both 
of  friends  and  foes.  Ambition  !  If  I  had  listened  to  its  soft  and 
seducing  whispers;  if  I  had  yielded  myself  to  the  dictates  of  a 
cold,  calculating,  and  prudential  policy,  I  would  have  stood  still 
and  unmoved.  I  might  even  have  silently  gazed  on  the  raging 
storm,  enjoyed  its  loudest  thunders,  and  left  those  who  are 
charged  with  the  care  of  the  vessel  of  State,  to  conduct  it  as  they 
could.  I  have  been  heretofore  often  unjustly  accused  of  ambi 
tion.  Low,  grovelling  souls,  who  are  utterly  incapable  of  eleva 
ting  themselves  to  the  higher  and  nobler  duties  of  pure  patriot 
ism — beings,  who,  forever  keeping  their  own  selfish  aims  in 
view,  decide  all  public  measures  by  their  presumed  influence  on 
their  aggrandizement,  judge  me  by  the  venal  rule  which  they 
prescribe  to  themselves.  I  have  given  to  the  winds  these  false 
accusations,  as  I  consign  that  which  now  impeaches  my  motives. 
I  have  no  desire  for  office,  not  even  the  highest.  The  most  ex 
alted  is  but  a  prison,  in  which  the  incarcerated  incumbent 
daily  receives  his  cold  heartless  visitants,  marks  his  weary 
hours,  and  is  cut  off  from  the  practical  enjoyment  of  all  the 
blessings  of  genuine  freedom.  I  am  no  candidate  for  any  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  people  of  these  states,  united  or  separated;  I 
never  wish,  never  expect  to  be.  Pass  this  bill,  tranquillize  the 
country,  restore  confidence  and  affection  in  the  Union,  and  I  am 
willing  to  go  home  to  Ashland,  and  renounce  public  service  for 
ever.  I  should  there  find,  in  its  groves,  under  its  shades,  on  its 
lawns,  amidst  my  flocks  and  herds,  in  the  bosom  of  my  family^ 
sincerity  and  truth,  attachment  and  fidelity,  and  gratitucle,  which 

I  have  not  always  found  in  the  walks  of  public  Hie Yes.  I 

kave  ambition,  but  it  is  the  ambition  of  being  the  humble  instru 
ment,  in  the  hands  of  Providence,  to  reconcile  a  divided  people, 
once  more  to  revive  concord  and  harmony  in  a  distracted  land — 
the  pleasing  ambition  of  contemplating  the  glorious  spectacle  of 
a  free,  united,  prosperous,  and  fraternal  people  ! 


ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES.  279 

ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES. 

In  the  Senate — February  4. 

Mr.  Clay  addressee!  the  chair.     He  held  in  his  hands,  and  beg 
ged  leave  to  present  to  the  Senate,  certain  resolutions  andamemo- 
rial,  to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  U.  States 
of  a  council  mot  at  Running  Waters,  consisting  of  a  portion  of 
the  Cherokee  Indians.     The    Cherokees   (said  Mr.  C.)  have  a 
country— if,  indeed,  it  can  be  any  longer  called  their  country— 
which  is  comprised  within  the  limits  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  Ten 
nessee  and  North  Carolina.      They  have  a  population  which  is 
variously  estimated,  but  which,  according  to  the  best  information 
which   I  possess,  amounts  to  about  fifteen  thousand  souls.     Of 
this  population,  a  portion,  believed  to  be  much  the  greater  part, 
amounting,  a?  is  estimated,  to   between   nine  and   ten  thousand 
souls,  reside  within  the  limits  of  the  state  of  Georgia.    The  Sen 
ate  was  well  aware,  Mr.  C.  said,  that  for  several  years  past,  it 
had. been  the  policy  of  the  general  government  to   transfer  the 
Indians  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi   river,  and  that  a  portion 
of  the  Cherokees  have  already  availed  themselves  of  this  policy 
of  the  government,  and  emigrated  beyond  the  Mississippi,     Of 
those  who  remain,  a   portion— a  respectable,  but,  also,  an  incon 
siderable  portion— are  desirous  to  emigrate  to   the  west,  and  a 
much  larger  portion  desire  to  remain   on  their  lands,  and   lay 
their  bones  where    rest,   those  of  their  ancestors.      The   papers 
(said  Mr.  C.)  which  I  now  present,  emanate  from  the  minor  por 
tion  of  the  Cherokees ;  from  those  who  are  in  favor  of  emigra 
tion.     They  present  a  case  which  appeals  strongly  to  the  sym 
pathies  of  Congress.     They  say  that  it  is   impossible  for  them 
to  continue  to  live  under  laws  which  they  do  not  understand,  pass 
ed  by  authority  in   which  they  have   no  share,  promulgated  in 
language  of  which   nothing  is  known  to  the  greater  portion  of 
them,  and  establishing  rules  for  their  government  entirely  una- 
dapted  to  their  nature,  education  and  habits.     They  say  that  de 
struction  is  hanging  over  them  if  they  remain  ;  that,  their  right 
of   self-government   being   destroyed,   though   they   are    sensi 
ble  of  all  the  privations  and  hardships  and  sufferings  of  banish 
ment  from  their  native  homes,  they  prefer  exile,  with  liberty,  to 
residence  in  their  homes  with  slavery.     They  implore,  therefore, 
the  intervention  of  the  general  government,  to  provide  for  their 
removal  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  establish  guarantees,  ne 
ver  hereafter  to  be  violated,  of  the  possession  of  the  lands  to  be 
acquired   by  them  west  of  the  Mississippi,  arid  of  the  perpetual 
right  of  self-government.     This  \vas  the  object  of  the  resolutions 
and   petition,  which,  Mr.  C.  said,  he   was  about  to   offer  to  the 
Senate. 

But  (said   Mr.  C.)  I  have  thought  that  this  occasion  was  one 
which  called  upon  me  to  express  the  opinions  and  sentiments 


280  ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES. 

which  I  hold  in  relation  to  this  entire  subject,  as  respects  not 
only  the  emigrating  Indians,  but  those,  also,  who  are  desirous  to 
remain  at  home ;  in  short,  to  express,  in  concise  terms,  my  views 
of  the  relations,  between  the  Indian  tribes,  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  the  rights  of  both  parties,  and  the  duties  of  this 
government  in  regard  to  them. 

The  rights  of  the  Indians,  Mr.  C.  said,  were  to  be  ascertained, 
in  the  first,  place,  by  the  solemn  stipulations  of  numerous  trea 
ties  made  with  them  by  the  United  States.  It.  was  not  his  pur 
pose  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  all  the  treaties  which 
have  been  made  with  Indian  tribes  bearing  on  this  particular  top 
ic :  but  he  felt  constrained  to  ask  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to 
some  portions  of  those  treaties  which  have  been  made  with  the 
Cherokees  and  to  the  memorable  treaty  of  Greenville,  which  had 
terminated  the  war  that  previously  thereto,  for  many  years, 
raged  between  the  United  States  and  the  north  western  Indian 
tribes.  He  found,  upon  consulting  the  collection  of  Indian  trea 
ties  in  his  hand,  that,  within  the  last  half  century,  fourteen  differ 
ent  treaties  had  been  concluded  with  the  Cherokees,  the  first  of 
which  bore  date  in  the  year  1775,  and  some  one  or  more  of  which 
had  been  concluded  under  every  administration  of  the  general 
government,  from  the  beginning  of  it  to  the  present  time,  ex 
cept  the  present  administration,  and  that  which  immediately  pre 
ceded  it.  The  treaty  of  Hopevvell,  the  first  in  the  series,  wag 
concluded  in  1775,  in  the  third  article  of  which  "  the  said  Indians, 
for  themselves  and  their  respective  tribes  and  towns,  do  acknow 
ledge  all  the  Cherokees  to  be  under  the  protection  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  of  no  other  sovereign  whatsoever"  The 
5th  article  of  the  same  treaty  provides  that  "  If  any  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  or  other  person,  not  being  an  Indian,  shall  at 
tempt  to  settle  on  any  of  the  lands  westward  or  southward  of  the 
said  boundary,  which  are  hereby  allotted  to  the  Indians  for  their 
hunting  grounds,  or,  having  already  settled,  and  will  not  remove 
from  the  same  within  six  months  after  the  ratification  of  this 
treaty,  such  person  shall  forfeit  the  protection  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  Indians  may  punish  him  or  not,  as  they  please: 
provided,  nevertheless,  that  this  article  shall  not  extend  to  the 
people  settled  between  the  fork  of  French  Broad  and  Holston 
rivers,"  &c. 

The  next  treaty  in  the  series,  which  was  concluded  after  the 
establishment  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  father  of  his  country,  was  in  the  year  1791,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Holston,  and  contains  the  following  provision : 
"  Art.  7.  The  United  States  solemnly  guaranty  to  the  Cher 
okee  nation  all  their  lands  not  hereby  ceded."  This,  Mr.  C.  said, 
was  not  an  ordinary  assurance  of  protection,  dec.,  but  a  solemn 
guaranty  of  the  rights  of  the  Cherokees  to  the  lands  in  question. 
The  next  treaty  to  which  he  would  call  the  attention  of  the  Sen 
ate,  was  concluded  in  1794,  also,  under  the  auspices  of  General 
Washington,  and  declares  as  follows :  "  The  undersigned,  Henry 


ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES.  281 

Knox,  secretary  for  the  department  of  war,  being  authorized 
thereto  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  behalf  of  the 
said  United  States,  and  the  undersigned  chiefs  and  warriors,  in 
their  own  names,  and  in  behalf  of  the  whole  Cherokee  nation, 
are  desirous  of  re-establishing  peace  and  friendship  between  the 
said  parties  in  a  permanent  manner,  do  hereby  declare,  that  the 
said  treaty  of  Holston  is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  in  full 
force  and  binding  upon  the  said  parties,  as  well  in  respect  to  the 
boundaries  therein  mentioned,  as  in  all  other  respects  whatever." 
This  treaty,  it  is  seen,  renews  the  solemn  guaranty  contained  in 
the  preceding  treaty,  and  declares  it  to  be  binding  and  obliga 
tory  upon  the  parties,  in  all  respects  whatever. 

Again;  in  another  treaty,  concluded  in  1798,  under  the 
second  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States,  we  find  the  fol 
lowing  stipulations:  "Art.  2.  The  treaties  subsisting  between 
the  present  contracting  parties,  are  acknowledged  to  be  of  full 
and  operating  force ;  together  with  the  construction  and  usage 
under  their  respective  articles,  and  so  to  continue."  "  Art.  3. 
The  limits  and  boundaries  of  the  Cherokee  nation,  as  stipulated 
and  marked  by  the  existing  treaties  between  the  parties,  shall 
be  and  remain  the  same,  where  not  altered  by  the  present  treaty." 

There  were  other  provisions,  in  other  treaties,  to  which,  if  he 
did  not  intend  to  take  up  as  little  time  as  possible  of  the  Senate, 
he  might  advantageously  call  their  attention.  He  would,  how 
ever,  pass  on  to  one  of  the  last  treaties  with  the  Cherokees, 
which  was  concluded  in  the  year  1817.  That  treaty  recognized 
the  difference  existing  between  the  two  portions  of  the  Chero 
kees,  one  of  which  was  desirous  to  remain  at  home  and  prosecute 
the  good  work  of  civilization,  in  which  they  had  made  some 
progress,  and  the  other  portion  was  desirous  to  go  beyond  the 
Mississippi.  In  that  treaty,  the  fifth  article,  after  several  other 
stipulations,  concludes  as  follows :  "And  it  is  further  stipulated, 
that  the  treaties  heretofore  between  the  Cherokee  nation  and 
the  United  States  are  to  continue  in  full  force  with  both  parts 
of  the  nation,  and  both  parts  thereof  entitled  to  all  the  privileges 
and  immunities  which  the  old  nation  enjoyed  under  the  aforesaid 
treaties ;  the  United  States  reserving  the  right  of  establishing 
factories,  a  military  post,  and  roads  within  the  boundaries  above 
defined."  And  to  this  treaty,  thus  emphatically  renewing  the 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  Indians,  is  signed  the  name,  as 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  United  States  who  negotiated 
it,  of  the  present  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States. 

These  were  the  stipulations  in  treaties  with  the  Cherokee 
nation,  to  which,  Mr.  C.  said,  he  thought  proper  to  call  the  atten 
tion  of  the  Senate.  He  would  now  turn  to  the  treaty  of  Green 
ville,  concluded  about  forty  years  ago,  recognizing  some  general 
principles  applicable  to  this  subject.  Mr.  C.  then  quoted  the 
fifth  article  of  that  treaty,  as  follows :  "  To  prevent  any  misun 
derstanding  about  the  Indian  lands  relinquished  by  the  United 
24* 


282  ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES. 

States  in  the  fourth  article,  it  is  now  explicitly  declared,  that  the 
meaning  of  that  relinquishmerit  is  this:  the  Indian  tribes  who 
have  a  right  to  those  lands  are  quietly  to  enjoy  them,  hunting, 
planting  and  dwelling  thereon  so  long  as  they  please,  without 
any  molestation  from  the  United  States;  but  when  those  tribes,  or 
any  of  them,  shall  be  disposed  to  sell  their  lands,  or  any  part 
of  them,  they  are  to  be  sold  only  to  the  United  States;  and, 
until  such  sale,  the  United  States  will  protect  all  the  said  Indian 
tribes  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  their  lands  against  all  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  and  against  all  other  white  persons  who 
intrude  upon  the  same.  And  the  said  Indian  tribes  again  ac 
knowledge  themselves  to  be  under  the  protection  of  the  said 
United  States,  and  no  other  power  whatever." 

Such,  sir,  (said  Mr.  C.,)  are  the  rights  of  the  Indian  tribes. 
And  what  are.  those  rights  ?  They  are,  that,  the  Indians  shall 
live  under  their  own  customs  and  laws;  that  they  shall  live  upon 
their  own  lands,  hunting,  planting  and  dwelling  thereon  so  long 
as  they  please,  without  interruption  or  molestation  of  any  sort 
from  the  white  people  of  the  United  States,  acknowledging 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  United  States,  and  of  no 
other  power  whatever;  that  when  they  no  longer  wish  to  keep 
the  lands,  they  shall  sell  them  only  to  the  United  States,  whose 
government  thus  secures  to  itself  the  pre-emptive  right  of  pur 
chase  in  them.  These  rights,  so  secured  by  successive  treaties 
and  guaranties,  have  also  been  recognized,  on  several  occasions, 
by  the  highest  judicial  tribunals.  Mr.  C.  here  quoted  from  an 
opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  a  passage  declaring  that  the  In 
dians  are  acknowledged  to  have  an  unquestionable  and  hereto 
fore  unquestioned  right  to  their  land,  until  it  shall  be  extin 
guished  by  voluntary  cession  to  this  government. 

But  (said  Mr.  C.)  it  is  not  at  home  alone  that  the  rights  of  the 
Indians  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  have  been  recog 
nized.  Not  only  lias  the  Executive,  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  the.  Supreme  Court,  recognized  these  right?,  but  in 
one  of  the  most  important  epochs  of  this  government,  and  on 
one  of  the  most  solemn  occasions  in  our  intercourse  with  foreign 
powers,  these  rights  of  the  Indian  tribes  have  been  acknow 
ledged.  You,  sir,  [addressing  the  President  of  the  Senate,]  will 
understand  me  at  once  to  refer  to  the  negotiation  between  the 
government  of  Great  Britain  and  that  of  the  United  States, 
which  had  for  its  object  the  termination  of  the  late  war  between 
the  two  countries.  Sir,  it  must  be  within  your  recollection,  and 
that  of  every  member  of  the  Senate,  that  the  hinge  upon  which, 
that  negotiation  turned,  the  ground  upon  which  it  was  for  a  long 
time  apprehended  that  the  conference  between  the  commission 
ers  would  terminate  in  a  rupture  of  the  negotiation  between  the 
two  countries— was,  the  claim  brought  forward  on  that  memora 
ble  occasion,  by  Great  Britain,  in  behalf  of  the  Indians  within 
the  limits  of  the  United  States.  It  will  be  recollected  that  she 
advanced,  as  a  principle  from  which  she  would  not  recede,  as 


ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES.  283 

a  sina  qua  non,  again  and  again,  during  the  progress  of  the 
negotiation,  that  the  Indians,  as  her  allies,  should  be  included  in 
the  treaty  of  peace  which  the  negotiators  were  about  forming ; 
that  they  should  have  a  permanent  boundary  assigned  them, 
and  that  neither  Great  Britain  nor  the  United  States  should  be 
at  liberty  to-  purchase  their  lands. 

Such  were  the  pretensions  urged  on  that  occasion,  which  the 
commissioners  of  the  United  States  had  felt  it  to  be  their  im 
perative  duty  to  resist.  To  establish,  as  the  boundary,  the  line 
of  the  treaty  of  Greenville,  as  proposed,  which  would  have  ex 
cluded  from  the  benefit  of  American  laws  and  privileges  a 
population  of  not  less  than  a  hundred  thousand  of  the  inhabit 
ants  of  Ohio,  American  citizens,  entitled  to  the  protection  of  the 
government,  was  a  proposition  which  the  American  negotiators 
could  not  for  a  moment  entertain:  they  would  not  even  refer  it  to 
their  government,  though  assured  that  it  would  there  meet  the 
same  unanimous  rejection  that  it  did  from  them.  But  it  became 
a  matter  of  some  importance  that  a  satisfactory  assurance  should 
be  given  to  Great  Britain  that  the  war,  which  we  were  about  to 
bring  to  a  conclusion  with  her,  should  close  also  with  her  allies: 
and  what  was  that  assurance  ?  Mr.  C.  said  he  would  not  trouble 
the  Senate  with  tracing  the  whole  account  of  that  negotiation, 
but  he  begged  leave  to  call  their  attention  to  one  of  the  passages 
of  it.  You  will  find,  (said  Mr.  C.,)  on  examining  the  history  of 
the  negotiation,  that  the  demand  brought  forward  by  the  British 
government,  through  their  minister,  on  this  occasion,  was  the 
subject  of  several  argumentative  papers.  Towards  the  close 
of  this  correspondence,  reviewing  the  course  pursued  towards 
the  Aborigines  by  the  several  European,  powers  which  had 
planted  colonies  in  America,  comparing  it  with  that  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  and  contra  ting  the  lenity,  kindness  and  forbearance 
of  the  United  States,  with  the  rigor  and  severity  of  other  powers, 
the  American  negotiators  expressed  themselves  as  follows : 

"From  the  rigor  of  this  system  however  as  practised  by 
Great  Britain,  and  all  the  other  European  powers  in  Americ^ 
the  humane  and  liberal  policy  of  the  United  States  has  volun 
tarily  relaxed.  A  celebrated  writer  on  the  law  of  nations,  to 
whose  authority  British  jurists  have  taken  particular  satisfaction 
in  appealing,  after  statins',  in  the  most  explicit  manner,  the 
legitimacy  of  colonial  settlements  in  America,  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  rights  of  uncivilized  Indian  tribes,  has  taken  occasion  to 
praise  the  first  settlers  of  New-England,  and  of  the  founder  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  having  purchased" of  the  Indians  the  lands  they 
resolved  to  cultivate,  notwithstanding  their  being  furnished  with 
a  charter  from  their  sovereign.  It  is  this  example  which  the 
United  States,  since  they  became  by  their  independence  the  sov 
ereigns  of  the  territory,  have  adopted  and  organized  into  a  po 
litical  system.  Under  that  system  the  Indians  residing  in  the 
United  States  are  so  far  independent  that  they  live  under  their 
won  customs,  and  not  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States  ;  that 


284  ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES. 

their  rights  upon  the  lands  where  they  inhabit  or  hunt  art  s«^ 
'Cured  to  them  by  boundaries  defined  in  amicable  treaties  between 
the  United  States  and  themselves;  and  that  whenever  those 
boundaries  are  varied,  it  is  also  by  amicable  and  voluntary  trea 
ties,  by  which  they  receive  from  the  United  States  ample  com 
pensation  for  every  right  they  have  to  the  lands  ceded  by  them,'7 
•&c. 

The  correspondence  was  further  continued ;  and  finally  the 
commissioners  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  proposed  an  article 
to  which  the  American  commissioners  assented,  the  basis  of 
which  is  a  declaration  of  what  is  the  state  of  the  law  between 
the  Indian  tribes  and  the  people  of  the  United  States.  They 
then  proposed  a  further  article,  which  declared  that  the  United 
States  should  endeavor  to  restore  peace  to  the  Indians  who  had 
acted  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain,  together  with  all  the  rights, 
possessions,  privileges  and  immunities  which  they  possessed  pri 
or  to  the  year  1811,  that  is,  antecedent  to  the  war  between  Eng 
land  and  the  United  States ;  in  consideration  that  Great  Britain 
would  terminate  the  war  so  far  as  respected  the  Indians  who  had 
been  allies  of  the  United  States,  and  restore  to  them  all  the  rights, 
privileges,  possessions  and  immunities  which  these  also  had  en 
joyed  previously  to  the  same  period.  Mr.  President,  I  here  state 
my  solemn  belief  that,  if  the  American  commissioners  had  not 
•declared  the  laws  between  the  Indians  and  the  people  of  this 
country,  and  the  rights  of  the  Indians  to  be  such  as  they  are  sta 
ted  to  be  in  the  extracts  I  have  read  to-  the  Senate;  if  they  had 
then  stated  that  any  one  state  of  this  Union  who  happened  to 
have  Indians  residing  within  its  limits,  possessed  the  right  of  ex 
tending  over  them  the  laws  of  such  state,  and  of  taking  their 
lands  when  and  how  it  pleased,  that  the  effect  would  have  been 
a  prolongation  of  the  war.  I  again  declare  my  most  solemn  be 
lief,  that  Great  Britain,  who  assented  with  great  reluctance  to 
this  mutual  stipulation  with  respect  to  the  Indians,  never  would 
have  done  it  at  all,  but  under  a  conviction  of  the  correspondence 
of  those  principles  of  Indian  inter-national  law,  (if  I  may  use 
such  a  phrase.)  with  those  which  the  United  States  government 
had  respected  ever  since  the  period  of  our  independence. 

Sir,  if  1  am  right  in  this,  let  me  ask  whether  in  adopting  the 
new  code  which  now  prevails,  and  by  which  the  rights  of  the 
Indians  have  been  trampled  on,  and  the  most  solemn  obligations 
of  treaties  have  been  disregarded,  we  are  not  chargeable  with 
having  induced  that  power  to  conclude  a  peace  with  us  by  sug 
gestions  utterly  unfounded  and  erroneous  1 

Most  of  the  treaties  between  the  Cherokee  nation  of  Indian,* 
and  the  United  States  have  been  submitted  to  the  Senate  fo\ 
ratification,  and  the  Senate  have  acted  upon  them  in  conformity 
with  their  constitutional  power.  Besides  the  action  of  the  Sen 
ate,  as  a  legislative  body,  in  the  enactment  of  laws  in  conform 
ity  with  their  stipulations,  regulating  the  intercourse  of  our  citi 
zens  with  that  nation,  it  has  acted  in  its  separate  character,  and 


ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES.  285 

confirmed  the  treaties  themselves  by  the  constitutional  majority 
of  two-thirds  of  its  members.  Thus  have  those  treaties  been 
sanctioned  by  the  government  of  the  United  States  and  by  every 
branch  of  that  government ;  by  the  Senate,  the  executive,  and 
the  Supreme  Court ;  both  at  home  and  abroad.  But  not  only 
have  the  rights  of  the  Cherokees  received  all  these  recognitions \ 
they  have  been,  cy  implication,  recognized  by  the  state  of  Geor 
gia  itself,  in  the  act  of  1802,  in  which  she  stipulated  that  the  go 
vernment  of  the  United  States,  and  not  the  state  of  Georgia, 
should  extinguish  the  Indian  title  to  land  within  her  limits ;  and 
the  general  government  has  been,  from  time  to  time,  urged  by- 
Georgia  to  comply  with  its  engagements,  from  that  period  until 
the  adoption  of  the  late  new  policy  upon  this  subject. 

Having  thus,  Mr.  President,  stated,  as  I  hope  with  clearness, 
the  RIGHTS  of  the  Indian  tribes,  as  recognized  by  the  most  sol 
emn  acts  that  can  be  entered  into  by  any  government,  let  me,  in 
the  next  place,  inquire  into  the  nature  of  the  INJURIES  which 
have  been  inflicted  upon  them ;  in  other  words,  into  the  present 
condition  of  these  Cherokees,  to  whom  protection  has  been  as 
sured  as  well  by  solemn  treaties  as  by  the  laws  and  guaranties 
of  the  United  States  government. 

And  here  let  me  be  permitted  to  say  that  I  go  into  this  sub 
ject  with  feelings  which  no  language  at  my  command  will  enable 
me  adequately  to  express.  I  assure  the  senate,  and  in  an  espe 
cial  manner  do  I  assure  the  honorable  senators  from  Georgia, 
that  my  wish  and  purpose  is  any  other  than  to  excite  the  slight 
est  possible  irritation  on  the  part  of  any  human  being.  Far 
from  it.  I  am  actuated  only  by  feelings  of  grief,  feelings  of 
sorrow,  and  of  profound  regret,  irresistibly  called  forth  by  a 
contemplation  of  the  miserable  condition  to  which  these  unfor 
tunate  people  have  been  reduced  by  acts  of  legislation  proceed 
ing  from  one  of  the  states  of  this  confederacy.  I  again  assure 
the  honorable  senators  from  Georgia,  that,  if  it  has  become  my 
painful  duty  to  comment  upon  some  of  these  acts,  I  do  it  not  with 
any  desire  to  place  them,  or  the  state  they  represent,  in  an  in 
vidious  position ;  but  because  Georgia  was,  I  believe,  the  first 
in  the  career,  the  object  of  which  seems  to  be  the  utter  annihila 
tion  of  every  Indian  right,  and  because  she  has  certainly,  in  the 
promotion  of  it,  far  outstripped  every  other  state  in  the  Union. 

I  have  not  before  me  the  various  acts  of  the  state  in  reference 
to  the  Indians  within  her  bounds ;  and  it  is  possible  I  may  be 
•under  some  mistake  in  reference  to  them ;  and  if  I  am,  no  one 
will  correct  the  error  more  readily,  or  with  greater  pleasure. 

If,  however,  I  had  all  those  laws  in  my  hands,  I  should  not 
now  attempt  to  read  them.  Instead  of  this,  it  will  be  sufficient 
for  me  to  state  the  effects  which  have  been  produced  by  them 
upon  the  condition  of  the  Cherokee  Indians  residing  in  that 
state.  And  here  follows  a  list  of  what  has  been  done  by  hep 
legislature.  Her  first  act  was  to  abolish  the  government  of  these 
Cherokees.  No  human  community  can  exist  without  a  govern- 


286  ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES; 

ment  of  some  kind ;  and  the  Cherokees,  imitating  our  example^ 
and  having  learned  from  us  something  of  the  principles  of  a  irer» 
constitution,  established  for  themselves  a  government  somewhat 
resembling  our  own.  It  is  quite  immaterial  to  us  what  its  form 
was.  They  always  had  had  some  government  among  them :  and 
we  guaranteed  to  them  the  right  of  living  under  their  own  laws 
and  customs,  unmolested  by  any  one;  insomuch  that  our  own 
citizens  were  outlawed  should  they  presume  to  interfere  with 
them.  What  particular  regulations  they  adopted  in  the  manage 
ment  of  their  humble  and  limited  concerns  is  a  matter  with 
which  we  have  no  concern.  However,  the  very  first  act  of  the 
Georgia  legislature  was  to  abolish  all  government  of  every  sort 
among  these  people,  and  to  extend  the  laws  and  government  of 
the  state  of  Georgia  over  them.  The  next  step  was  to  divide 
their  territory  into  counties ;  the  next,  to  survey  the  Cherokee 
lands ;  and  the  last,  to  distribute  this  land  among  the  citizens 
of  Georgia  by  lottery,  giving  to  every  head  of  a  family  one  tick 
et,  and  the  prize  m  land^  that  should  be  drawn  against  it. 
To  be  sure  there  were  many  reservations  for  the  heads  of  Indian 
families;  and  of  how  much  did  gentlemen  suppose?— of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  only,  and  this  to  include  their  improve 
ments.  But  even  to  this  limited  possession  the  poor  Indian  was 
to  have  no  fee  simple  title:  he  was  to  hold  as  a  mere  occupant 
at  the  will  of  the  state  of  Georgia  for  just  as  long  or  as  short  a 
time  as  she  might  think  proper.  The  laws  at  the  same  time 
gave  him  no  one  political  right  whatever.  He  could  not  become 
a  member  of  the  state  legislature,  nor  could  he  hold  any  office 
under  state  authority,  nor  could  he  vote  as  an  elector.  He  pos 
sessed  not  one  single  right  of  a  freeman.  No,  not  even  the  poor 
privilege  of  testifying  to  his  wrongs  in  the  character  of  a  witness 
in  the  courts  of  Georgia,  or  in  any  matter  of  controversy  what 
soever. 

These,  Mr.  President,  are  the  acts  of  the  legislature  of  the 
state  of  Georgia,  in  relation  to  the  Indians.  They  were  not  all 
passed  at  one  session ;  they  were  enacted,  time  after  time,  aa 
the  state  advanced  further  and  further  in  her  steps  to  the  acqui 
sition  of  the  Indian  country,  and  the  destruction  and  annihila 
tion  of  all  Indian  rights;  until,  by  a  recent  act  of  the  same  body, 
the  courts  of  the  state  itself  are  occluded  against  the  Indian  suf 
ferer,  and  he  is  actually  denied  an  appeal  even  to  foreign  tribu 
nals,  in  the  erection  and  in  the  laws  of  which  he  had  no  voice, 
there  to  complain  of  his  wrongs.  If  he  enters  the  hall  of  Geor 
gia's  justice,  it  is  upon  a  surrender  at  the  threshold  of  all  hia 
rights'.  The  history  of  this  last  law.  to  which  I  have  alluded  is  this, 
When  the  previous  law  of  the  state  dividing  the  Indian  lands  by 
lottery  was  passed,  some  Indians  made  an  appeal  to  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  state,  and  applied  for  an  injunction  against  the  pro 
ceeding  ;  and  such  was  the  undeniable  justice  of  their  plea,  that 
the  judge  found  himself  unable  to  muse  it,  and  he  granted 
the  injunction  sought.  It  was  that  injunctVt  Tvhich  led  to  tha 


ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES,  287 

passage  of  this  act :  to  some  of  the  provisions  of  which  I  now 
invite  the  attention  of  the  Senate.  And  first  to  the  title  of 
the  act:  "A  bill  to  amend  an  act  entitled  an  act  more  effectu 
ally  to  provide  for  the  government  and  protection  of  the  Chero- 
tee  Indians  residing  within  the  limits  of  Georgia,  and  to  pre 
scribe  the  bounds  of  their  occupant  claims  ;  and  also  to  author 
ize  grants  to  issue  for  lots  drawn  in  the  late  land  and  gold  lot 
teries" — Ah,sir.it  was  the  pursuit  of  gold  which  led  the  Spanish 
invader  to  desolate  the  fair  fields  of  Mexico  and  Peru — "  arid 
to  provide  for  the  appointment  of  an  agent  to  carry  certain 
parts  thereof  into  execution;  and  to  fix  the  salary  of  such  agent, 
and  to  punish  those  persons  who  may  deter  Indians  from  en 
rolling  for  emigration,  passed  20th  December,  1S33."  Well, 
sir,  this  bill  goes  on  to  provide  "that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
agent  or  agents  appointed  by  his  excellency  the  governor, under 
the  authority  of  this  or  the  act  of  which  it  is  amendatory,  to  re 
port  to  him  the  number,  district  and  section  of  all  lots  of  land 
subject  to  be  granted  by  the  provisions  of  said  act,  which  he 
may  be  required  to  do  by  the  drawer,  or  his  agent,  or  the  person 
claiming  the  same;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  his  excellency 
the  governor,  upon  the  application  of  the  drawer  of  any  of  the 
aforesaid  lots,  his  or  her  special  agents,  or  the  person  to  whom 
the  drawer  may  have  bona  fide  conveyed  the  same,  his  agent 
or  assigns,  to  issue  a  grant  therefor ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  said  agent  or  agents,  upon  the  production  of  the  grant  so 
issued  as  aforesaid  by  the  grantor,  his  or  her  agent,  or  the  per 
son,  or  his  or  her  agent  to  whom  the  said  land  so  granted  as 
aforesaid  may  have  been  bona  fide  conveyed,  to  deliver  posses 
sion  of  said  granted  lot  to  the  said  grantee,  or  person  entitled  to 
the  possession  of  the  same  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  or 
the  act  of  which  this  is  amendatory,  and  his  excellency  the  gov 
ernor  is  hereby  authorized,  upon  satisfactory  evidence  that  the 
said  agent  is  impeded  or  resisted  in  delivering  such  possession, 
by  a  force  which  he  cannot  overcome,  to  order  out  a  sufficient 
force  to  carry  the  power  of  said  agent  or  agents  fully  into  effect, 
and  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  same  out  of  the  contingent  fund  : 
provided  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  require 
the  interference  of  the  said  agent  between  two  or  more  individu 
als  claiming  possession,  by  virtue  of  titles  derived  from  a  grant 
from  the  state  to  any  lot." 

Thus,  after  the  state  of  Georgia  had  distributed  the  lands  of 
the  Indians  by  lottery,  and  the  drawers  of  prizes  were  author 
ized  to  receive  grants  of  the  land  drawn,  and  with  these  grants 
in  their  hand  were  authorized  to  demand  of  the  agent  of  the 
state,  appointed  for  the  purpose;  to  be  put  in  possession  of  the 
soil  thus  obtained;  and  if  any  resistance  to  their  entry  should 
be  made,  and  who  was  to  make  it  but  a  poor  Indian?  the  gov 
ernor  is  empowered  to  turn  out  the  military  force  of  the  state, 
and  enable  the  agent  to  take  possession  by  force,  without  trial, 
without  judgment,  and  without  investigation. 


288  ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES. 

But,  should  there  be  two  claimants  of  the  prize,  should  two 
of  the  ticket  holders  dispute  their  claim  to  the  same  lot,  then 
no  military  force  was  to  be  used.  It  was  only  when  the  resis 
tance  was  by  an  Indian — it  was  only  when  Indian  rights  should 
come  into  collision  with  the  alledged  rights  of  the  stale  of  Geor 
gia,  that  the  strong  hand  of  military  power  was  instantly  to  in 
terpose.  '  ^A, 

The  next  section  of*  the  act  is  in  these  words:  "And  be  it 
further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid.  That  if  any  person 
dispossessed  of  a  lot  of  land  under  this  act,  or  the  act  of  which 
it  is  amendatory,  shall  go  before  a  justice  of  the  peace  or  of  the 
inferior  court,  and  make  affidavit  that  he  or  she  was  not  liable 
to  be  dispossessed  under  or  by  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  or 
the  aforesaid  act,  and  file  said  affidavit  in  the  clerk's  office  of 
the  superior  court  of  the  county  in  which  said  land  shall  lie, 
such  person  upon  giving  bond  and  security  in  the  clerk's  office 
fbr  the  costs  to  accrue  on  the  trial,  shall  be  permitted  within 
ten  days  from  such  dispossessing  to  enter  an  appeal  to  said 
superior  court,  and  at  said  court  the  judge  shall  cause  an  issue 
to  be  made  up  between  the  appellant  and  the  person  to  whom 
possession  of  said  land  was  delivered  by  either  of  eaid  agents, 
which  said  issue  shall  be  in  the  following  form." 

Mr.  Cuthbert,  of  Georgia,  here  interposed:  and  having  ob 
tained  Mr.  Clay's  consent  to  explain,  stated  that  he  had  unfor 
tunately  not  been  in  the  Senate  when  the  honorable  senator 
commenced  his  speech ;  but  had  learned  that  it  was  in  support 
of  a  memorial  from  certain  Cherokee  Indians  in  the  state  of 
Georgia,  who  desired  to  emigrate.  He  must  be  permitted  to 
eay,  that  the  current  of  the  honorable  senator's  remarks  did 
not  suit  remarkably  well  the  subject  of  such  a  memorial.  A 
memorial  of  a  different  kind  had  been  presented,  and  which 
the  committee  on  Indian  affairs  had  before  it,  to  which  the 
senator's  remarks  would  better  apply.  The  present  discussion 
was  wholly  unexpected,  and  it  seemed  to  him  not  in  consistency 
with  the  object  of  the  memorial  he  had  presented. 

Mr.  Clay  replied  that  he  was  truly  sorry  the  honorable  gentle 
man  had  been  absent  when  he  commenced  speaking.  He  had 
delayed  presenting  the  memorial  because  he  observed  that 
neither  of  the  senators  from  Georgia  was  in  his  seat,  until  the 
hour  when  they  might  be  expected  to  be  present,  and  when  one 
of  them,  (Mr.  King,)  had  actually  taken  his  seat.  If  the  honor 
able  senator  had  been  present  he  would  have  heard  Mr.  Claj 
•ay  that  he  thought  the  presentation  of  the  memorial  a  nt 
occasion  to  express  his  sentiments,  not  only  touching  the  rights 
of  these  individual  petitioners,  but  on  the  rights  of  all  the  Indian 
tribes,  and  their  relations  to  this  government.  And  if  he  would 
hare  but  a  little  patience  he  would  find  that  it  was  Mr.  Clay's 
intention  to  present  propositions?  which  went  to  embrace  both  re 
solutions. 

Mr.  Clay  now  resumed  the  course  of  his  speech.    And  here, 


ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES.  283 

Mr.  President,  let  me  pause  and  invite  the  attention  of  the  senate 
to  the  provision  in  the  act  of  Georgia  which  I  was  reading, 
(the  substance  of  which  Mr.  Clay  here  repeated)— that  is,  that 
he  may  have  the  privilege  of  an  appeal  to  a  tribunal  of  justice, 
by  forms  and  by  a  bond  with  the  nature  and  force  of  which 
he  is  unacquainted;  and  that  then  he  may  have — what  beside  ? 
I  invoke  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  this  part  of  the  law. 
What,  I  ask,  does  it  secure  to  the  Indian  ?  His  rights  ?  The 
rights  recognized  by  treaties  ?  The  rights  guarantied  to  him  by 
the  most  solemn  acts  which  human  governments  can  perform  ? 
No.  It  allows  him  to  come  into  the  courts  of  the  state,  and  there 
to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  summary  proceeding  called  in  the  act 
"  an  appeal" — but  which  can  never  be  continued  beyond  a  se 
cond  term ;  and  when  he  comes  there,  what  then?  He  shall 
be  permitted  to  come  into  court  and  enter  an  appeal,  which 
ehall  be  in  the  following  form : 

"  A.  B.,  who  was  dispossessed  of  a  lot  of  land  by  an  agent  of 
the  state  of  Georgia,  comes  into  court,  and  admitting  the  right 
of  the  state  of  Georgia  to  pass  the  law  under  which  agent  acted, 
avers  that  he  was  not  liable  to  be  dispossessed  of  said  land,  by 
or  under  any  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  the  general  as 
sembly  of  Georgia,  passed  20th  December,  1833,  '  more  effectu 
ally  to  provide  for  the  protection  of  the  Cherokee  Indians  residing 
within  the  limits  of  Georgia,  and  to  prescribe  the  bounds  of  their 
occupant  claims,  and  also  to  authorize  grants  to  issue  for  lots 
drawn  in  the  land  and  gold  lotteries  in  certain  cases,  and  to  pro 
vide  for  the  appointment  of  an  agent  to  carry  certain  parts 
thereof  into  execution,  and  fix  the  salary  of  such  agent,  and  to 
punish  those  persons  who  may  deter  Indians,  from  enrolling  for 
emigration,'  or  the  act  amendatory  thereof,  passed  at  the  session 
of  the  legislature  of  1834:  'in  which  issue  the  person  to  whom 
possession  of  said  land  was  delivered  shall  join;  and  which 
issue  shall  constitute  the  entire  pleadings  between  the  parties; 
nor  shall  the  court  allow  any  matter  other  than  is  contained 
in  said  issue  to  be  placed  upon  the  record  or  files  of  said 
court;  and  said  cause  shall  be  tried  at  the  first  term  of  the 
court,  unless  good  cause  shall  be  shown  for  a  continuance^ 
and  the  same  party  shall  not  be  permitted  to  continue  said, 
cause  more  than  once,  except  for  unavoidable  providential 
cause :  nor  shall  said  court  at  the  instance  of  either  party 
pass  any  order  or  grant  any  injunction  to  stay  said  cause, 
nor  permit  to  be  engrafted  on  said  cause  any  other  proceedings 
whatever.' " 

At  the  same  time  we  find,  by  another  enactment,  the  judges 
of  the  courts  of  Georgia  are  restrained  from  granting  injunctions, 
so  that  the  only  form  in  which  the  Indian  can  come  before 
them  is  in  the  form  of  an  appeal ;  and  in  this,  the  very  first 
step  is  an  absolute  renunciation  of  the  rights  he  holds  by  treaty, 
and  the  unqualified  admission  of  the  rights  of  his  antagonist, 


290  ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES. 

as  conferred  by  the  laws  of  Georgia ;  and  the  court  is  expressly 
prohibited  from  putting  any  thing  else  upon  the  record.  Why? 
do  we  not  all  know  the  reason  ?  If  the  poor  Indian  was  allowed 
to  put  in  a  plea  stating  his  rights,  and  the  court  should  then  de 
cide  against  him,  the  cause  would  go  upon  an  appeal  to  the 
supreme  court;  the  decision  could  be  re-examined,  could  be 
annulled,  and  the  authority  of  treaties  vindicated.  But,  to  pre 
vent  this,  to  make  it  impossible,  he  is  compelled,  on  entering  the 
court,  to  renounce  his  Indian  rights,  and  the  court  is  forbidden 
to  put  any  thing  on  record  which  can  bring  up  a  decision  upon 
them. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  already  stated  that,  in  the  observations 
I  have  made,  I  am  actuated  by  no  other  feslings  than  such  as 
ought  to  be  in  the  breast  of  every  honest  man,  the  feelings  of 
common  justice.  I  would  say  nothing,  I  would  whisper  nothing, 
I  would  insinuate  nothing,  I  would  think  nothing,  which  can,  in 
the  remotest  degree,  cause  irritation  in  the  mind  of  any  one,  of 
any  senator  here,  of  any  state  in  this  Union,  I  have  too  much 
respect  for  every  member  of  the  confederacy.  I  feel  nothing 
but  grief  for  the  wretched  condition  of  these  most  unfortunate 
people,  and  every  emotion  of  my  bosom  dissuades  me  from 
the  use  of  epithets  that  might  raise  emotions  which  should 
draw  the  attention  of  the  Senate  from  the  justice  of  their 
claims.  I  forbear  to  apply  to  this  law  any  epithet  of  any  kind. 
Sir,  no  epithet  is  needed.  The  features  of  the  law  itself;  it* 
warrant  tor  the  interposition  of  military  power,  when  no  trial 
and  no  judgment  has  been  allowed  ;  its  denial  of  any  appeal, 
unless  the  unhappy  Indian  shall  first  renounce  his  own  rights, 
and  admit  the  rights  of  his  opponent — features  such  as  these 
are  enough  to  show  what  the  true  character  of  the  act  is,  arid 
supersede  the  necessity  of  all  epithets,  were  I  even  capable  of 
applying  any. 

The  Senate  will  thus  perceive  that  the  whole  power  of  the 
state  of  Georgia,  military  as  well  as  civil,  has  been  made  to 
bear  upon  these  Indians,  without  their  having  any  voice  in 
forming,  judging  upon,  or  executing  the  laws  under  which  he  is 
placed,  and  without  even  the  poor  privilege  of  establishing  the 
injury  he  may  have  suffered  by  Indian  evidence:  nay,  worse 
still,  not  even  by  the  evidence  of  a  white  man  !  Because  the  re 
nunciation  of  his  rights  precludes  all  evidence,  white  or  black, 
civilized  or  savage.  There  then  he  lies,  with  his  property,  his 
rights  and  every  privilege  which  makes  human  existence  desira 
ble,  at  the  mere  mercy  of  the  state  of  Georgia ;  a  state,  in 
whose  government  or  laws  he  has  no  voice.  Sir,  it  is  impossi 
ble  for  the  most  active  imagination  to  conceive  a  condition  of 
human  society  more  perfectly  wretched.  Shall  I  be  told  that 
•the  condition  of  the  African  slave  is  worse  ?  No,  sir,  no 
air.  It  is  not  worse.  The  interest  of  the  master  makes  it  at 
.once  his  duty  and  his  inclination  to  provide  for  the  comfort  and 
the  health  of  his  slave  :  for  without  these  he  would  be  unprofit- 


ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES.  291 

able.  Both  pride  and  interest  render  the  master  prompt  in  vin 
dicating  the  rights  of  his  slave,  and  protecting  him  from  the  op 
pression  of  others,  and  the  laws  secure  to  him  the  amplest  means 
to  do  so.  But  who — what  human  being,  stands  in  the  relation 
of  master  or  any  other  relation,  which  makes  him  interested  in 
the  preservation  and  protection  of  the  poor  Indian  thus  degraded 
and  miserable  ?  Thrust  out  from  human  society,  without  the 
•ympathies  of  any,  and  placed  without  the  pale  of  common  jus 
tice,  who  is  there  to  protect  him,  or  to  defend  his  rights  ? 

Such,  Mr.  President,  is  the  present  condition  of  these  Chero 
kee  memorialists,  whose  case  it  is  rny  duty  to  submit  to  the  con 
sideration  of  the  Senate.  There  remains  but  one  more  inquiry 
before  I  conclude.  Is  there  any  remedy  within  the  scope  of  the 
powers  of  the  federal  government  as  given  by  the  constitution  ? 
If  we  are  without  the  power,  if  we  have  no  constitutional  author 
ity,  then  we  are  also  without  responsibility.  Our  regrets  may 
be  excited,  our  sympathies  may  be  moved,  our  humanity  may 
be  shocked,  our  hearts  may  be  grieved,  but  if  our  hands  are  tied, 
we  can  only  unite  with  all  the  good,  the  Christian,  the  benevo 
lent  portion  of  the  human  family,  in  deploring  what  we  cannot 
prevent. 

But,  sir,  we  are  not  thus  powerless.  I  stated  to  the  Senate, 
when  I  began,  that  there  are  two  classes  of  the  Cherokees ;  one 
of  these  classes  desires  to  emigrate,  and  it  was  their  petition  I 
presented  this  morning,  and  with  respect  to  these,  our  powers 
are  ample  to  afford  them  the  most  liberal  and  effectual  relief. 
They  wish  to  go  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  to  be  guarantied 
in  the  possession  of  the  country  which  may  be  there  assigned  to 
them.  As  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  have  full  powers 
over  the  territories,  we  may  give  them  all  the  guaranty  which 
Congress  can  express  for  the  undisturbed  possession  of  their 
lands.  With  respect  to  their  case  there  can  be  no  question  as  to 
our  powers. 

And  then,  as  to  those  who  desire  to  remain  on  this  side  the 
river,  I  ask  again,  are  we  powerless  ?  Can  we  afford  them  no 
redress?  Must  we  sit  still  and  see  the  injury  they  suffer,  and 
extend  no  hand  to  relieve  them?  It  were  strange  indeed,  were 
such  the  case.  Why  have  we  guarantied  to  them  the  enjoyment 
of  their  own  laws  ?  Why  have  we  pledged  to  them  protection  ? 
Why  have  we  assigned  them  limits  of  territory  ?  Why  have 
we  declared  that  they  shall  enjoy  their  homes  in  peace,  without 
molestation  from  any?  If  the'  United  States'  government  has 
contracted  these  serious  obligations,  it  ought,  before  the  Indians 
were  reduced  by  our  assurances  to  rely  upon  our  engagement,  to 
have  explained  to  them  its  want  of  authority  to  make  the  con 
tract  Before  we  pretend  to  Great  Britain,  to  Europe,  to  the 
•civilized  world,  that  such  were  the  rights  we  would  secure  to 
the  Indians,  we  ought  to  have  examined  the  extent  and  the 
grounds  of  our  own  rights  to  do  so.  But  is  such,  indeed  our 
situation  ?  No,  sir.  Georgia  has  shut  her  courts  against  these 


292  ON  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES. 

Indians.  What  is  the  remedy  ?  To  open  ours.  Have  we  not 
the  right?  What  says  the  constitution?  "  The  judicial  power 
shall  extend  to  all  cases  in  law  and  equity,  arising  under  this 
constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties  made, 
or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  authority." 

But  here  was  a  case  of  conflict  between  the  rights  of  the  pro 
prietors  and  the  local  laws ;  and  here  was  the  very  case  which 
the  constitution  contemplated,  when  it  declared  that  the  power 
of  the  federal  judiciary  should  extend  to  all  cases  under  the 
authority  of  the  United  States.  Therefore  it  was  fully  within 
the  competence  of  Congress,  under  the  provisions  of  the  consti 
tution,  to  provide  the  manner  in  which  the  Cherokees  might 
have  their  rights  decided,  because  a  grant  of  the  means  was  in 
cluded  in  the  grant  of  jurisdiction.  It  was  competent,  then 
for  Congress  to  decide  whether  the  Cherokee  had  a  right  to 
come  into  a  court  of  justice  and  to  make  an  appeal  to  the 
highest  authority  to  sustain  the  solemn  treaties  under  which 
their  rights  had  been  guarantied,  and  in  the  sacred  character 
of  which  they  had  reposed  their  confidence.  And  if  Congress 
possessed  the  power  to  extend  relief  to  the  Indians,  were  they 
not  bound  by  the  most  sacred  of  human  considerations,  the  ob 
ligations  of  treaties,  the  protection  assured  them,  by  every 
Christian  tie,  every  benevolent  feeling,  every  humane  impulse 
of  the  human  heart,  to  extend  it?  If  they  were  to  fail  to  do 
this,  and  there  was,  as  reason  and  revelation  declared  there 
was,  a  tribunal  of  eternal  justice  to  which  all  human  power  was 
amenable,  how  could  they,  if  they  refused  to  perform  their  duties 
to  this  injured  and  oppressed,  though  civilized  race,  expect  to 
escape  the  visitations  of  that  Divine  vengeance  which  none 
would  be  permitted  to  avoid  who  had  committed  wrong,  or  done, 
injustice  to  others  ? 

At  this  moment,  when  the  United  States  were  urging  on  the 
government  of  France  the  fulfilment  of  the  obligations  of  the 
treaty  concluded  with  that  country,  to  the  execution  of  which 
it  was  contended  that  France  had  plighted  her  sacred  faith, 
what  strength,  what  an  irresistible  force  would  be  given  to  our 
plea,  if  we  could  say  to  France  that,  in  all  instances,  we  had 
completely  fulfilled  all  our  engagements,  ami  that  we  had  ad 
hered  faithfully  to  every  obligation  which  we  had  contracted^ 
no  matter  whether  it  was  entered  into  with  a  powerful  or  a 
weak  people ;  if  we  could  say  to  her  that  we  had  complied  with 
all  our  engagements  to  others,  that  we  now  came  before  her,  al 
ways  acting  right  as  we  had  done,  to  induce  her  also  to  fulfil  her 
obligations  to  us.  How  should  we  stand  in  the  eyes  of  France 
and  of  the  civilized  world,  if,  in  spite  of  the  most  solemn  treaties, 
which  had  existed  for  half  a  century,  and  had  been  recog 
nized  in  every  form,  and  by  every  branch  of  the  government, 
how  would  they  be  justified  if  they  suffered  these  treaties  to  be 
trampled  under  foot,  and  the  rights  which  they  were  given  to 
secure  trodden  into  the  dust?  How  would  Great  Britain,  after 


ON  THE   INDIAN  TRIBES.  293 

the  solemn  understanding  entered  into  with  her  at  Ghent,  feel 
after  such  a  breach  of  faith?  And  how  could  he,  as  a  com 
missioner  on  the  negotiation  of  that  treaty,  hold  up  his  head 
before  Great  Britain,  after  having  been  thus  made  an  instru 
ment  of  fraud  and  deception,  as  he  assuredly  would  have  been, 
if  the  rights  of  the  Indians  are  to  be  thus  violated,  and  the 
treaties,  by  which  they  were  secured,  violated?  How  could 
he  hold  up  his  head,  after  such  a  violation  of  rights,  and  say 
that  he  was  proud  of  his  country,  of  which  they  they  all  must 
wish  to  be  proud? 

For  himself,  he  rejoiced  that  he  had  been  spared,  and  allowed 
a  suitable  opportunity  to  present  his  views  and  opinions  on  this 
great  national  subject,  so  interesting  to  the  national  character 
of  the  country  for  justice  and  equity.  He  rejoiced  that  the 
voice  which,  without  charge  of  presumption  or  arrogance,  he 
might  say,  was  ever  raised  in  defence  of  the  oppressed  of  the 
human  species,  had  been  heard  in  defence  of  this  most  oppressed 
of  all.  To  him,  in  that  awful  hour  of  death,  to  which  all  must 
come,  and  which,  with  respect  to  himself,  could  not  be  very  far 
distant,  it  would  be  a  source  of  the  highest  consolation  that  an 
opportunity  had  been  found  by  him,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate, 
in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duty,  to  pronounce  his  views  on  a 
course  of  policy  marked  by  such  wrongs  as  were  calculated 
to  arrest  the  attention  of  every  one,  and  that  he  had  raised  his 
humble  voice,  and  pronounced  his  solemn  protest  against  such 
wrongs. 

Mr.  C.  would  no  longer  detain  the  Senate,  but  would  submit 
the  following  propositions: 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  on  the  judiciary  be  directed  to 
inquire  into  the  expediency  of  making  further  provision,  by  law, 
to  enable  Indian  nations,  or  tribes,  to  whose  use  and  occupancy 
lands  are  secured  by  treaties  concluded  between  them  and  the 
United  States,  to  defend  and  maintain  their  rights  to  such  lands 
in  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  in  conformity  with  the  con 
stitution  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved.  That  the  committee  on  Indian  affairs  be  directed  to 
inquire  into  the  expediency  of  making  further  provision,  by  law, 
for  setting  apart  a  district  of  country  west  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  for  such  of  the  Cherokee  nation  as  may  be  disposed  to 
emigrate  and  to  occupy  the  same,  and  for  securing  in  perpetuity 
the  peaceful  and  undisturbed  enjoyment  thereof  to  the  emi 
grants  and  their  descendants. 
25* 


294  ON  THE  APPOINTING 


ON   THE   APPOINTING  AND    REMOVING 
POWER. 

Delivered  in  the  Senate  on  the  18th  of  February,  on  the  passage 
of  the  bill  entitled  "An  act  to  repeal  the  first  and  second  sec 
tions  of  the  act  to  limit  the  term  of  service  of  certain  officers 
therein  named." 

Mr.  Clay  thought  it  extremely  fortunate  that  this  subject  of 
executive  patronage  came  up,  at  this  session,  unencumbered  by 
any  collateral  question.  At  the  last  session  we  had  the  removal 
of  the  deposites,  the  treasury  report  sustaining  it,  and  the  pro 
test  of  the  President  against  the  resolution  of  the  Senate.  The 
bank  mingled  itself  in  all  our  discussions,  and  the  partizans  of 
executive  power  availed  themselves  of  the  prejudices  which 
had  been  artfully  excited  against  that  institution,  to  deceive 
and  blind  the  people  as  to  the  enormity  of  executive  pretensions. 
The  bank  has  been  doomed  to  destruction,  and  no  one  now 
thinks  the  recharter  of  it  practicable,  or  ought  to  be  attempted. 
I  fear,  said  Mr.  C.,  that  the  people  will  have  just  and  severe 
cause  to  regret  its  destruction.  The  administration  of  it  was 
uncommonly  able ;  and  one  ia  at  a  loss  which  most  to  admire, 
the  imperturbable  temper  or  the  wisdom  of  its  enlightened 
President  No  country  can  possibly  possess  a  better  general 
currency  than  it  supplied.  The  injurious  consequences  of  the 
sacrifice  of  this  valuable  institution  will  soon  be  felt  There 
being  no  longer  any  sentinel  at  the  head  of  our  banking  es 
tablishments,  to  warn  them,  by  its  information  and  operations, 
of  approaching  danger,  the  local  institutions,  already  multiplied 
to  an  alarming  extent,  and  almost  daily  multiplying,  in  seasons 
of  prosperity,  will  make  free  and  unrestrained  emissions.  All 
the  channels  of  circulation  will  become  gorged.  Property  will 
rise  extravagantly  high,  and,  constantly  looking  up,  the  tempta 
tion  to  purchase  will  be  irresistible.  Inordinate  speculation  will 
ensue,  debts  will  be  freely  contracted,  and  when  the  season  of 
adversity  cornys,  as  come  it  must,  the  banks,  acting  without  con 
cert  and  without  guide,  obeying  the  law  of  self-preservation, 
will  all  at  the  same  time  call  in  their  issues;  the  vast  number 
will  exaggerate  the  alarm,  and  general  distress,  wide-spread 
ruin,  and  an  explosion  of  the  whole  banking  system,  or  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  new  bank  of  the  United  States,  will  be  the  ulti 
mate  effects. 

We  can  now  deliberately  contemplate  the  vast  expansion  of 
executive  power,  under  the  present  administration,  free  from 
embarrassment.  And  is  there  any  real  lover  of  civil  liberty 
who  can  behold  it  without  great  and  just  alarm?  Take  the 
doctrines  of  the  protest  and  the  Secretary's  report  together,  and, 
instead  ofhaving  a  balanced  government  with  three  co-ordinate 


AND  REMOVING  POWER.  205 

departments,  we  have  bat  one  power  in  the  state.  According  to 
those  papers  all  the  officers  concerned  in  the  administration  of 
the  laws  are  bound  to  obey  the  President.  His  will  controls 
every  branch  of  the  administration.  No  matter  that  the  law  may 
have  assigned  to  other  officers  of  the  government  specifically 
defined  duties;  no  matter  that  the  theory  of  the  constitution  and 
the  law  supposes  them  bound  to  the  discharge  of  those  duties 
according  to  their  own  judgment,  and  under  their  own  responsi 
bility,  and  liable  to  impeachment  for  malfeasance;  the  will  of  the 
President,  even  in  opposition  to  their  own  deliberate  sense  of 
their  obligations,  is  to  prevail,  and  expulsion  from  office  is  the 
penalty  of  disobedience!  It  has  not,  indeed,  in  terms,  been 
claimed,  but  it  is  a  legitimate  consequence  from  the  doctrine  as 
serted,  that  all  decisions  of  the  judicial  tribunals,  not  conforma 
ble  with  the  President's  opinion,  must  be  inoperative,  since  the 
officers  charged  with  their  execution  are  no  more  exempt  from 
the  pretended  obligation  to  obey  his  orders  than  any  other  officer 
of  the  administration. 

The  basis  of  this  overshadowing  superstructure  of  executive 
power  is,  the  power  of  dismission,  which  it  is  one  of  the  objects 
of  the  bill  under  consideration  somewhat  to  regulate,  but  which 
it  is  contended  by  the  supporters  of  executive  authority  is  un- 
controlable.  The  practical  exercise  of  this  power,  during  thie 
administration,  has  reduced  the  salutary  co-opcralion  of  the  Sen 
ate,  as  approved  by  the  Constitution,  in  all  appointments,  to  an 
idle  form.  Of  what  avail  is  it  that  the  Senate  shall  have  passed 
upon  a  nomination,  if  the  President,  at  anytime  thereafter,  even 
the  next  day,  whether  the  Senate  be  in  session  or  in  vacation, 
without  any  known  cause,  may  dismiss  the  incumbent?  Let  us 
examine  the  nature  of  this  power.  It  is  exercised  in  the  recesses 
of  the  executive  mansion,  perhaps  upon  secret  information.  The 
accused  officer  is  not  present  nor  heard,  nor  confronted  with  the 
witnesses  against  him,  and  the  President  is  judge,  juror  and  ex 
ecutioner.  No  reasons  are  assigned  for  the  dismission,  and  the 
public  is  left  to  conjecture  the  cause.  Is  not  a  power  so  exer 
cised  essentially  a  despotic  power?  It  is  adverse  to  the  genius 
of  all  free  governments,  the  foundation  of  which  is  responsibility. 
Responsibility  is  the  vital  principle  of  civil  liberty,  as  irresponsi 
bility  is  the  vital  principle  of  despotism.  Free  government  can 
no  more  exist  without  this  principle  than  animal  life  can  be  sue- 
tainetl  without  the  presence  of  the  atmosphere.  But  is  not  the. 
President  absolutely  irresponsible  in  the  exercise  of  this  power? 
How  can  he  he  reached?  By  impeachment?  It  is  a  mockery. 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  the  office  was  not  made  for  the  in 
cumbent.  Nor  was  it  created  for  the  incumbent  of  another  office. 
In  both  and  in  all  cases  public  offices  are  created  for  the  public; 
and  the  people  have  a  right  to  know  why  and  wherefore  one  of 
their  servants  dismisses  another.  The  abuses  which  have  flowed 
and  are  likely  to  flow  from  this  power,  if  unchecked,  are  inde 
scribable.  How  often  have  all  of  us  witnessed  the  expulsion  of 


296  ON  THE  APPOINTING 

the  most  faithful  officers,  of  the  highest  character,  and  of  the 
most  undoubted  probity,  for  no  other  imaginable  reason,  than 
difference  in  political  sentiments?  It  begins  in  politics  and  may 
end  in  religion.  If  a  President  should  be  inclined  to  fanaticism, 
•  md  the  power  should  not  be  regulated,  what  is  to  prevent  the 
dismission  of  every  officer  who  does  not  belong  to  his  sect,  or 
persuasion?  He  may,  perhaps  truly,  say  if  he  does  not  dismiss 
him,  that  he  has  not  his  confidence.  It  was  the  cant  language  of 
Cromwell  and  his  associates,  when  obnoxious  individuals  were 
-ri  or  proposed  for  office,  that  they  could  not  confide  in  them. — 
The  tendency  of  this  power  is  to  revive  the  dark  ages  of  feudal 
ism,  and  to  render  every  officer  a  feudatory.  The  bravest  man 
in  office,  whose  employment  and  bread  depend  upon  the  will  of 
the  President,  will  quail  under  the  influence  of  the  power  of  dis 
mission.  If  opposed  in  sentiments  to  the  administration,  he  will 
begin  by  silence,  and  finally  will  be  goaded  into  partisanship. 

The  Senator  from  New- York,  ('Mr.  Wright,)  in  analyzing  the 
list  of  100,000  who  arc  reported  oy  the  committee  of  patronage 
to  draw  money  from  the  public  treasury,  contends  that  a  large 
portion  of  them  consists  of  the  army,  the  navy  and  revolutionary 
pensioners  ;  and,  paying  a  just  compliment  to  their  gallantry  and 
patriotism,  asks,  if  they  will  allow  themselves  to  be  instrumental 
in  the  destruction  of  the  liberties  of  their  country?  It  is  very 
remarkable  that  hitherto  the  power  of  dismission  has  not  been 
applied  to  the  army  and  navy,  to  which,  from  the  nature  of  the 
service,  it  would  seem  to  be  more  necessary  than  to  those  in  civ 
il  places.  But  accumulation  and  concentration  are  the  nature 
of  power,  and  especially  of  executive  power.  And  it  cannot 
,e  doubted  that,  if  the  power  of  dismission,  as  now  exercised,  in 
regard  to  civil  officers,  i.s  sanctioned  and  sustained  by  the  people, 
it  will,  in  the  end,  be  extended  to  the  army  and  navy.  When  so 
extended,  it  will  produce  its  usual  effect  of  subserviency,  or  if 
the  present  army  and  navy  should  be  too  stern  and  upright  to 
be  moulded  according  to  the  pleasure  of  the  executive,  we  are 
to  recollect  that  the  individuals  who  compose  them  are  not  to 
live  always,  and  may  be  succeeded  by  those  who  will  be  more 
pliant  and  yielding.  But  I  would  ask  the  Senator  what  has 
been  the  effect  of  this  tremendous  power  of  dismission  upon  the 
classes  of  officers  to  which  it  has  been  applied?  Upon  the  post 
office,  the  land  office,  and  the  custom  house  ?  They  constitute 
no  many  corps  d'aimee,  ready  to  further,  on  all  occasions,  the 
executive  views  and  wishes.  They  take  the  lead  in  primary 
assemblies  whenever  it  is  deemed  expedient  to  applaud  or  sound 
the  praises  of  the  administration,  or  to  carry  out  its  purposes  in 
relation  to  the  succession.  We  are  assured  that  a  large  majori 
ty  of  the  recent  convention  at  Columbus,  in  Ohio,  to  nominate 
the  President's  successor,  were  office  holders.  And  do  you 
imagine  that  they  would  nominate  any  other  than  the  President's 
known  favorite? 

The  power  of  removal  as  now  exercised  is,  no  where  in  the 


AND  REMOVING  POWER.  SS? 

constitution  expressly  recognized.  The  only  mode  of  displacing 
a  public  officer  for  which  it  does  provide,  is  by  impeachment-— 
But  it  has  been  argued  on  this  occasion,  that  it  is  a  sovereign 
power,  an  inherent  power,  and  an  executive  power;  and,  there- 
,fore,  that  it  belongs  to  the  President.  Neither  the  premises  nor 
<the  conclusion  can  be  sustained.  If  they  could  be,  the  people  of 
''the  United  States  have  all  along  totally  misconceived  the  nature 
of  their  government,  and  the  character  of  the  office  of  their  Su 
preme  Magistrate.  Sovereign  power  is  supreme  power ;  and  in 
no  instance  whatever  is  there  any  supreme  power  vested  in  the 
President.  Whatever  sovereign  power  is,  if  there  be  any,  con 
veyed  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  vested  in  Con 
gress,  or  in  the  President  and  Senate.  The  'power  to  declare 
war,  to  lay  taxes,  to  coin  money,  is  vested  in  Congress ;  and  the 
treaty  making  power  in  the  President  and  Senate.  The  Post 
master  General  has  the  power  to  dismiss  his  deputies.  Is  that  a 
sovereign  power,  or  has  he  any  ? 

Inherent  power !  That  is  a  new  principle  to  enlarge  the  pow 
ers  of  the  general,  government.  Hitherto  it  has  been  supposed 
that  there  are  no  powers  possessed  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  or  any  branch  of  it,  but  such  as  are  granted  by 
the  constitution;  and,  in  order  to  ascertain  what  has  been  grant 
ed,  that  it  was  necessary  to  show  the  grant,  or  to  establish  that 
the  power  claimed  was  necessary  and  proper  to  execute  some 
granted  power.  In  other  words,'  that  there  are  no  powers  but 
those  which  are  expressed  or  incidental.  But  it  seems  that  a 

freat  mistake  has  existed.  The  partisans  of  the  executive  have 
iscovered  a  third  and  more  fruitful  source  of  power.  Inherent 
power !  Whence  is  it  derived  ?  The  constitution  created  the 
office  of  President,  and  made  it  just  what  it  is.  It  had  no  pow 
ers  prior  to  its  existence.  It  can  have  none  but  those  which  are 
conferred  upon  it  by  the  instrument  which  created  it,  or  laws 
passed  in  pursuance  of  that  instrument.  Do  gentlemen  mean,  by 
inherent  power,  such  power  as  is  exercised  by  the  monarchs  or 
chief  magistrates  of  other  countries  ?  If  that  be  their  meaning, 
they  should  avow  it. 

It  has  been  argued  that  the  power  of  removal  from  office  is  an 
executive  power;  that  all  executive  power  is  vested  in  the  Presi 
dent;  and  that  he  is  to  see  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed, 
which,  it  is  contended,  he  cannot  do,  unless,  at  his  pleasure,  he 
may  dismiss  any  subordinate  officer. 

The  mere  act  of  dismission  or  removal  may  be  of  an  execu 
tive  nature,  but  the  judgment  or  sentence  which  precedes  it  is  a 
function  of  a  judicial  and  not  executive  nature.  Impeachments, 
which,  as  has  been  already  observed,  are  the  only  mode  of  re 
moval  from  office  expressly  provided  for  in  the  constitution,  are 
to  be  tried  by  the  Senate,  acting  as  a  judicial  tribunal.  In  Eng 
land,  and  in  all  the  states,  they  are  tried  by  judicial  tribunals. — 
In  several  of  the  states  removal  from  office  sometimes  is  effected 
by  the  legislative  authority,  as  in  the  case  of  judges,  an.  the  con- 


'§98  ON  THE  APPOINTING 

currence  of  two-thirds  of  the  members.  The  administration  of 
the  laws  of  the  several  states  proceeds  regularly,  without  the  ex 
ercise  on  the  part  of  the  governors  of  any  power  similar  to  that 
which  is  claimed  for  the  President.  In  Kentucky,  and  in  other 
states,  the  governor  has  no  power  to  remove  sheriffs,  collectors 
of  the  revenue,  clerks  of  courts,  or  any  one  officer  employed  in 
administration;  and  yet  the  governor,  like  the  President,  is  con 
stitutionally  enjoined  to  see  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed. 

The  clause  relied  upon  to  prove  that  all  executive  power  is 
vested  in  the  President,  is  the  first  section  of  the  second  article. 
On  examining  the  constitution,  we  find  that,  according  to  its  ar 
rangement,  it  treats  first  of  the  legislative  power,  then  of  the  ex 
ecutive,  and  lastly  of  the  judicial  power.  In  each  instance,  it 
Erovides  how  those  powers  shall  be  respectively  vested.  The 
igislative  power  is  confided  to  a  Congress,  and  the  constitution 
then  directs  how  the  members  of  the  body  shall  be  chosen,  and, 
after  having  constituted  the  body,  enumerates  and  carefully  spe 
cifies  its  powers.  And  the  same  course  is  observed  both  with 
the  executive  and  the  judiciary.  In  neither  case  does  the  pre 
liminary  clause  convey'any  power ;  but  the  powers  of  the  seve 
ral  departments  are  to  be  sought  for  in  the  subsequent  provis 
ions.  The  legislative  powers  granted  by  the  constitution  are  to 
be  vested,  how  ?  In  a  Congress.  What  powers?  Those  which 
are  enumerated.  The  executive  power  is  to  be  vested,  how? 
In  a  council,  or  in  several  ?  No,  in  a  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  What  executive  power?  That  which  is 
possessed  by  any  Chief  Magistrate,  in  any  country,  or  that  which 
speculative  writers  attribute  to  the  executive  head  ?  No  such 
thing.  That  power,  and  that  only,  which  the  constitution  subse 
quently  assigns  to  the  Chief  Magistrate. 

The  President  is  enjoined  by  the  constitution  to  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.  Under  this  injunction,  the  pow 
er  of  dismission  is  claimed  for  him  ;  and  it  is  contended  that  if 
those  charged  with  the  execution  of  the  laws  attempt  to  execute 
them  in  a  sense  different  from  that  entertained  by  the  President, 
he  may  prevent  it,  or  withhold  his  co-operation.  It  would  follow 
that,  if  the  judiciary  give  to  the  law  an  interpretation  variant 
from  that  of  the  President  he  would  not  be  bound  to  afford  means 
which  might  become  necessary  to  execute  their  decision.  If 
these  pretensions  are  well  founded,  it  is  manifest  that  the  Presi 
dent,  by  means  of  the  veto,  in  arresting  the  passage  of  laws 
which  he  disapproves,  and  the  power  of  expounding  those  which 
are  passed,  according  to  his  own  sense  of  them,  will  become  pos 
sessed  of  all  the  practical  authority  of  the  whole  government. — 
If  the  judiciary  decide  a  law  contrary  to  the  President's  opinion 
of  its  meaning,  he  may  command  the  marshal  not  to  execute  the 
decision,  and  urge  his  constitutional  obligation  to  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.  It  will  be  recollected,  perhaps, 
by  the  Senate  that,  during  the  discussions  on  the  deposite  ques 
tion;  I  predicted  that  the  day  would  arrive  when  a  President  dis- 


AND  REMOVING  POWER.  299 

posed  to  enlarge  his  powers,  would  appeal  to  his  official  oath  aff 
~a  source  of  power.  In  that  oath  he  undertakes  that  he  will,  uto 
the  best  of  his  ability,  preserve,  protect  and  defend  the  constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States."  The  fulfilment  of  the  prediction 
quickly  followed ;  and  during  the  same  session,  in  the  protest  of' 
the  President,  we  find  him  referring  to  this  oath  as  a  source  of 
power  and  duty.  Now,  if  the  President,  in  virtue  of  his  oath, 
may  interpose  and  prevent  any  thing  from  being  done,  contrary 
to  the  constitution,  as  he  understands  it ;  and  may,  in  virtue  of 
the  injunction  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed, 
prevent  the  enforcement  of  any  law  contrary  to  the  sense  in 
which  he  understands  it,  I  would  ask  what  powers  remain  to  any 
other  branch  of  the  government?  Are  they  not  all  substantially 
absorbed  in  the  WILL  of  one  man  ? 

The  President's  oath  obliges  him  to  do  no  more  than  every 
'member  of  Congress  is  also  bound  by  official  oath  to  do:  that  is, 
to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  in  their  respec 
tive  spheres  of  action.  In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  specifi 
cally  assigned  to  him  by  the  constitution  and  laws,  he  is  forever 
to  keep  in  view  the  constitution;  and  this  every  member  of  Con 
gress  is  equally  bound  to  do,  in  the  passage  of  laws.  To  step 
out  of  his  sphere ;  to  trench  upon  other  departments  of  the  gov 
ernment,  under  the  notion  that  they  are  about  to  violate  the  con 
stitution,  would  be  to  set  a  most  pernicious  and  dangerous  exam 
ple  of  violation  of  the  constitution.  Suppose  Congress,  by  two 
thirds  of  each  branch,  pass  a  law  contrary  to  the  veto  of  the 
•President,  and  to  his  opinion  of  the  constitution,  is  he  afterwards 
at  liberty  to  prevent  its  execution  ?  The  injunction,  to  which  I 
have  adverted,  common  both  to  the  federal  and  most  of  the  state 
•constitutions,  imposes  only  upon  the  Chief  Magistrate  the  duty 
•of  executing  those  laws  with  the  execution  of  which  he  is  spe 
cially  charged ;  of  supplying,  when  necessary,  the  means  with 
which  he  is  entrusted  to  enable  others  to  execute  those  laws,  the 
enforcement  of  which  is  confided  to  them ;  and  to  communicate 
to  Congress  infractions  of  the  laws,  that  the  guilty  may  be 
brought  to  punishment,  or  Ihe  defects  of  legislation  remedied. — 
The  most  important  branch  of  the  government  to  the  rights  of 
the  people,  as  it  regards  the  mere  execution  of  the  laws,  is  the 
judiciary;  and  yet  they  hold  their  offices  by  a  tenure  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  President.  Far  from  impairing  the  efficacy  of  any 
powers  with  which  he  is  invested,  this  permanent  character  in 
the  judicial  office  is  supposed  to  give  stability  and  independence' 
to  the  administration  of  justice. 

The  power  of  removal  from  office  not  being  one  of  those  pow 
ers  which  are  expressly  granted  and  enumerated  in  the  consti 
tution,  and  having,  I  hope,  successfully  shown  that  it  is  not  es 
sentially  of  an  executive  nature,  the  question  arises  to  what 
department  of  the  government  does  it  belong,  in  regard  to  alJ 
offices  created  by  law.  or  whose  tenure  is  not  defined  in  the  con 
stitution  ?  There  is  much  force  in  the  argument  which  attaches 


300  ON  THE  APPOINTING 

the  power  of  dismission  to  the  President  and  Senate  conjointly. 
as  the  appointing  power.  But  I  think  we  must  look  for  it  to  3 
broader  and  higher  source — the  legislative  department.  The 
duty  of  appointment  may  be  performed  under  a  law  which  en 
acts  the  mode  of  dismission.  This  is  the  case  in  the  post  office 
department,  the  Postmaster  General  being  invested  with  both  the 
power  of  appointment  and  of  dismission.  But  they  are  not  ne 
cessarily  allied,  and  the  law  might  separate  them  ;  and  assign  to 
one  functionary  the  right  to  appoint,  and  to  a  different  one  the 
right  to  dismiss.  Examples  of  such  a  separation  may  be  found 
in  the  state  governments. 

It  is  the  legislative  authority  which  creates  the  office,  defines 
its  duties,  and  may  prescribe  its  duration.  I  speak,  of  course, 
of  offices  not  created  by  the  constitution,  but  the  law.  The  of 
fice,  coming  into  existence  by  the  will  of  Congress,  the  same  will 
may  provide  how,  and  in  what  manner,  the  office  and  the  officer 
shall  both  cease  to  exist.  It  may  direct  the  conditions  on  which 
he  shall  hold  the  office,  and  when  and  how  he  shall  be  dismissed. 
Suppose  the  constitution  had  omitted  to  prescribe  the  tenure  of 
the  judicial  office,  could  not  Congress  do  it?  But  the  constitu 
tion  has  not  fixed  the  tenure  of  any  subordinate  offices,  and  there 
fore  Congress  may  supply  the  omission.  It  would  be  unreasonable 
to  contend  that,  although  Congress,  in  pursuit  of  the  public  good 
brings  the  office  and  the  officer  into  being,  and  assigns  their  pur 
poses,  yet  the  President  has  a  control  over  the  officer  which  Con 
gress  cannot  reach  or  regulate ;  and  this  control  in  virtue  of  some 
vague  and  undefined  implied  executive  power  which  the  friends 
of  executive  supremacy  are  totally  unable  to  attach  to  any  spe 
cific  clause  in  the  constitution. 

It  has  been  contended,  with  great  ability,  that  under  the  clause 
of  the  constitution  which  declares  that  Congress  shall  have  pow 
er  "  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  others 
vested  by  this  constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof"  Congress  is  the 
Bole  depository  of  implied  powers,  and  that  no  other  department 
or  officer  of  the  government  possesses  any.  If  this  argument  be 
correct,  there  is  an  end  of  the  controversy.  But  if  the  power  of 
dismission  be  incident  to  the  legislative  authority,  Congress  hat-- 
the  clear  right  to  regulate  it.  And  if  it  belong  to  any  other  nc- 

Eartment  of  the  government,  under  the  cited  clause,  Congress- 
as  the  power  to  legislate  upon  the  subject,  and  may  regulate 
it,  although  it  could  not  divest  the  department  altogether  of  the 
right. 

Hitherto  I  have  considered  the  question  upon  the  ground  of 
the  constitution,  unaffected  by  precedent.  We  have  in  vain  call 
ed  upon  our  opponents  to  meet  us  upon  that  ground  ;  and  to  point 
out  the  clause  of  the  constitution  which  by  express  grant,  or  ne 
cessary  implication,  subjects  the  will  of  the  whole  official  corps 
to  the  pleasure  of  the  President,  to  be  dismissed  whenever  he 


AND   REMOVING  POWER.  301 

thinks  proper,  without  any  cause,  and  without  any  reasons  pub 
licly-assigned  or  avowed  for  the  dismission,  and  which  excludes 
Congress  from  all  authority  to  legislate  against  the  tremendous 
consequences  of  such  a  vast  power.  No  such  clause  has  been 
rihown ;  nor  can  it  be,  for  the  best  of  all  reasons,  because  it  does 
not  exist.  Instead  of  bringing  forward  any  such  satisfactory  evi 
dence,  gentlemen  entrench  themselves  behind  the  precedent 
which  was  established  in  1789,  when  the  first  Congress  recog 
nised  the  power  of  dismission  in  the  President ;  that  is,  they  rely 
upon  the  opinion  of  the  first  Congress  as  to  what  the  constitution 
meant  as  conclusive  of  what  it  is. 

The  precedent  of  1789  was  established  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  against  the  opinion  of  a  large  and  able  minority,  and 
in  the  Senate  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Vi6e  President,  Mr.  John 
Adams.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  debate  which  it  occasioned 
without  being  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the  just  confi 
dence  reposed  in  the  father  of  his  country,  then  at  the  head  of 
the  government,  had  great,  if  not  decisive  influence  in  establish 
ing  it.  It  has  never,  prior  to  the  commencement  of  the  present 
administration,  been  submitted  to  the  process  of  review.  It  has 
not  been  reconsidered,  because,  under  the  mild  administrations 
of  the  predecessors  of  the  President,  it  was  not  abused,  but  gen 
erally  applied  to  cases  to  which  the  power  was  justly  applicable. 
[Mr.  Clay  here  proceeded  to  recite  from  a  memorandum,  the 
number  of  officers  removed  under  the  different  Presidents,  from 
Washington  down;  but  the  reporter  not  having  access  to  the 
memorandum,  is  unable  to  note  the  precise  number  under  each, 
and  can  only  state  generally  that  it  was  inconsiderable  under 
all  the  administrations  "prior  to  the  present,  but  under  that  of 
General  Jackson  the  number  of  removals  amounted  to  more  than 
two  thousand — of  which  some  five  or  six  hundred  were  Post 
masters.] 

Precedents  deliberataly  established  by  wise  men  are  entitled 
to  great  weight.  They  are  the  evidence  of  truth,  but  only  evi 
dence.  If  the  same  rule  of  interpretation  has  been  settled,  by 
concurrent  decisions,  at  different  and  distant  periods,  and  by  op 
posite  dominant  parties,  it  ought  to  be  deemed  binding,  and 
not  disturbed.  But  a  solitary  precedent,  established,  as  this  was, 
by  an  equal  vote  of  one  branch,  and  a  powerful  minority  in  the 
other,  under  the  influence  of  a  confidence  never  misplaced  in  an 
illustrious  individual,  and  which  has  never  been  re-examined, 
cannot  be  conclusive. 

The  first  inquiry  which  suggests  itself  upon  such  a  precedent 
as  this  is,  brought  forward  by  the  friends  of  the  administration,  is, 
what  right  have  they  to  the  benefit  of  any  precedent?  The 
course  of  this  administration  has  been  marked  by  an  utter  and 
contemptuous  disregard  of  all  that  had  been  previously  done.— 
Disdaining  to  move  on  in  the  beaten  road  carefully  constructed 
by  preceding  administrations,  and  trampling  upon  every  thing, 


302  ON  THE  APPOINTING 

it  has  seemed  resolved  to  trace  out  for  itself  a  new  line  of  march. 
Then,  let  us  inquire  how  this  administration  and  its  partisan* 
dispose  of  precedents  drawn  from  the  same  source,  the  first  Con 
gress  under  the  present  constitution.  If  a  precedent  of  that  Con 
gress  be  sufficient  authority  to  sustain  an  executive  power,  other 
precedents  established  by  it,  in  support  of  legislative  powers, 
must  possess  a  like  force.  But  do  they  admit  this  principle  of 
equality  ?  No  such  thing.  They  reject  the  precedents  of  the 
Congress  of  1789  sustaining  the  power  of  Congress,  and  cling- 
to  that  only  which  expands  the  executive  authority.  They  go 
for  prerogative,  and  they  go  against  the  rights  of  the  people. 

It  was  in  the  first  Congress  that  assembled  in  1789,  that  the 
bank  of  the  United  States  was  established,  the  power  to  adopt 
a  protective  tariff  was  maintained,  and  the  right  was  recognised 
to  authorise  internal  improvements.  And  these  several  powers 
do  not  rest  on  the  basis  of  a  single  precedent.  They  have  been 
again  and  again  affirmed,  and  re-affirmed  by  various  Congresses. 
at  different  and  distant  periods,  under  the  administration  of  every 
dominant  party ;  and,  in  regard  to  the  bank,  it  has  been  sanc 
tioned  by  every  branch  of  the  government,  and  by  the  people. — 
Yet  the  same  gentlemen,  who  console  themselves  with  the  pre 
cedent  of  1789  in  behalf  of  the  executive  prerogative,  reject  as 
unconstitutional  all  these  legislative  powers. 

No  one  can  carefully  examine  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives  in  1789,  without  being  struck  with  the  superiority 
of  the  argument  on  the  side  of  the  minority,  and  the  unsatisfae 
tory  nature  of  that  of  the  majority.  How  various  are  the  sour 
ces  whence  the  power  is  derived!  Scarcely  any  two  of  the  ma 
jority  agree  in  their  deduction  of  it.  Never  have  I  seen,  from 
the  pen  or  tongue  of  Mr.  Madison,  one  of  the  majority,  any  thing 
so  little  persuasive  or  convincing.  He  assumes  that  all  execu 
tive  power  is  vested  in  the  President.  He  does  not  qualify  it; 
he  does  not  limit  it  to  that  executive  power  which  the  constitu 
tion  grants.  He  does  not  discriminate  between  executive  power 
assigned  by  the  constitution,  and  executive  power  enacted  by 
law.  He  asks,  if  the  Senate  had  not  been  associated  with  the 
President  in  the  appointing  power,  whether  the  President,  in  vir 
tue  of  his  executive  power,  would  not  have  had  the  right  to  make 
all  appointments  ?  I  think  not ;  clearly  not.  It  would  have  been 
a  most  sweeping  and  far-fetched  implication.  In  the  silence  of 
the  constitution,  it  would  have  devolved  upon  Congress  to  pro 
vide  by  law  for  the  mode  of  appointing  to  office  ;  and  that  in  vir 
tue  of  the  clause,  to  which  I  have  already  adverted,  giving  to 
Congress  power  to  pass  all  laws  necessary  and  proper  to  carry 
on  the  government.  He  says,  "  the  danger  then  merely  consists 
in  this  :  the  President  can  displace  from  office  a  man  whose  mer 
its  require  that  he  should  be  continued  in  it.  What  will  be  the 
motives  which  the  President  can  feel  for  such  an  abuse  of  his 
power?"  What  motives!  The  pure  heart  of  a  Washington 
could  have  had  none ;  the  virtuous  head  of  Madison  could  con- 


AND  REMOVING  POWER.  303 

ceive  none ;  but  let  him  ask  General  Jackson,  and  he  will  tell  him 
of  motives  enough.  He  will  tell  him  that  he  wishes  his  admin 
istration  to  be  a  unit ;  that  he  desires  only  one  will  to  prevail  in 
the  executive  branch  of  government ;  that  he  cannot  confide  in 
men  who  opposed  his  election  ;  that  he  wants  places  to  reward 
those  who  supported  it ;  that  the  spoils  belong  to  the  victor ;  and 
that  he  is  anxious  to  create  a  great  power  in  the  state,  animated 
by  one  spirit,  governed  by  one  will,  and  ever  ready  to  second 
and  sustain  his  administration  in  all  its  acts  and  measures ;  and 
to  give  its  undivided  force  to  the  appointment  of  the  successor 
whom  he  may  prefer.  And  what,  Mr.  President,  do  you  suppose 
are  the  securities  against  the  abuse  of  this  power,  on  which  Mr. 
Madison  relied ?  "  In  the  first  place,"  he  says,  "  he  will  be  im- 
peachable  by  this  house  before  the  Senate,  for  such  an  act  of 
mal-administration,"  &c.  Impeachment !  It  is  not  a  scarecrow. 
Impeach  the  President  for  dismissing  a  receiver  or  register  of 
the  land  office,  or  a  collector  of  the  customs  !  But  who  is  to  im 
peach  him?  The  House  of  Representatives.  Now  suppose  a 
majority  of  that  house  should  consist  of  members  who  approve 
the  principle  that  the  spoils  belong  to  the  victors ;  and  suppose 
a  great  number  of  them  are  themselves  desirous  to  obtain  somu 
of  these  spoils,  and  can  only  be  gratified  by  displacing  men  from 
office  whose  merits  require  that  they  should  be  continued,  what 
chance  do  you  think  there  would  be  to  prevail  upon  such  a  house 
to  impeach  the  President  ?  And  if  it  were  possible  that  he  should, 
under  such  circumstances,  be  impeached,  what  prospect  do  you 
believe  would  exist  of  his  conviction  by  two  thirds  of  the  Senate, 
comprising  also  members  not  particularly  averse  to  lucrative  of 
fices,  and  where  the  spoils  doctrine,  long  practised  in  New-York, 
was  first  boldly  advanced,  in  Congress  1 

The  next  security  was,  that  the  President,  after  displacing  the 
meritorious  officer,  could  not  appoint  another  person  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  Senate.  If  Mr.  Madison  had  shown  how,  by 
any  action  of  the  Senate,  the  meritorious  officer  could  be  re 
placed,  there  would  have  been  some  security.  But  the  Presi 
dent  has  dismissed  him;  his  office  is  vacant;  the  public  service 
requires  it  to  be  filled,  and  the  President  nominates  a  succes 
sor.  In  considering  this  nomination,  the  President's  partizans 
have  contended  that  the  Senate  is  not  at  liberty  to  inquire 
how  the  vacancy  was  produced,  but  is  limited  to  the  single 
consideration  of  the  fitness  of  the  person  nominated.  But  sup 
pose  the  Senate  were  to  reject  him,  that  would  only  leave  the 
office  still  vacant,  and  would  not  reinstate  the  removed  officer. 
The  President  would  have  no  difficulty  in  nominating  another, 
and  another,  until  the  patience  of  the  Senate  being  completely 
exhausted,  they  would  finally  confirm  the  appointment.  What 
I  have  ^  supposed  is  not  theory,  but  actually  matter  of  fact. 
How  often  within  a  few  years  past  have  the  Senate  disapproved 
of  removals  from  office,  which  they  have  been  subsequently 
called  upon  to  concur  in  filling  ?  How  often,  wearied  in  reject- 


304  ON  THE  APPOINTING 

ing,  have  they  approved  of  persons  for  office  whom  they  never 
would  have  appointed  ?  How  often  have  members  approved  of 
bad  appointments,  fearing  worse  if  they  were  rejected  ?  If  the 
powers  of  the  Senate  were  exercised  by  one  man,  he  might  op 
pose,  in  the  matter  of  appointments,  a  more  successful  resistance 
to  executive  abuses.  He  might  take  the  ground  that,  in  cases 
of  improper  removal,  he  would  persevere  in  the  rejection  of 
every  person  nominated,  until  the  meritorious  officer  was  re 
instated.  But  the  Senate  now  consists  of  forty-eight  members, 
nearly  equally  divided,  one  portion  of  which  is  ready  to  approve 
of  all  nominations,  and  of  the  other,  some  members  conceive 
that  they  ought  not  to  incur  the  responsibility  of  hazarding 
the  continued  vacancy  of  a  necessary  office,  because  the  Pre 
sident  may  have  abused  his  powers.  There  is,  then,  no  se 
curity,  not  the  slightest  practical  security,  against  abuses  of  the 
power  of  removal  in  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate  in  appoint 
ment  to  office. 

During  the  debate  in  1789,  Mr.  Smith,  of  South  Carolina^ 
called  for  the  clause  of  the  constitution  granting  the  power.  He 
said,  "we  are  declaring  a  power  in  the  President  which  may 
hereafter  be  greatly  abused  ;  for  we  are  not  always  to  expect  a 
chief  magistrate  in  whom  such  entire  confidence  can  be  placed 
as  the  present.  Perhaps  gentlemen  are  so  much  dazzled  with 
the  splendor  of  the  virtues  of  the  present  "President,  as  not  to  be 
able  to  see  into  futurity  *  *  We  ought 

to  contemplate  this  power  in  the  hands  of  an  ambitious  man  who 
might  apply  it  to  dangerous  purposes.  If  we  give  this  power  to 
the  President,  he  may  from  caprice  remove  the  most  worthy 
men  from  office :  his  will  and,  pleasure  will  be  the  slight  tenure 
by  which  the  office  is  to  be  held,  and  of  consequence  yon 
render  the  officer  the  mere  state  dependent,  the  abject  slave 
of  a  person  who  may  be  disposed  to  abuse  the  confidence  his 
fellow  citizens  have  placed  in  him."  Mr.  Huntington  said, 
"  if  we  have  a  vicious  President,  who  inclines  to  abuse  this 
power,  which  God  forbid,  his  responsibility  will  stand  us  in 
little  stead. 

Mr.  Gerry,  afterwards  the  republican  Vice-Prcsident  of  the 
United  States,  contended,  "  that  we  are  making  these  officers  the 
mere  creatures  of  the  President;  they  dare  not  exercise  the  pri 
vilege  of  their  creation,  if  the  President  shall  order  them  to  for 
bear ;  because  he  holds  their  thread  of  life.  His  power  will  be 
sovereign  over  them,  and  will  soon  swallow  up  the  small  secu 
rity  isfre  have  in  the  Senate's  concurrence  to  the  appointment ; 
and  we  shall  shortly  need  no  other  than  the  authority  of  the  su 
preme  executive  officer  to  nominate,  appoint,  continue  or  re 
move."  Was  not  that  prophecy;  and  do  we  not  feel  and  know 
that  it  is  prophecy  fulfilled  ? 

There  were  other  members  who  saw  clearly  into  the  future, 
and  predicted,  with  admirable  forecast,  what  would  be  the  prac 
tical  operation  of  this  power.  But  there  was  one  eminently 


AND  REMOVING  POWER.  305 

gifted  in  this  particular.  It  seems  to  have  been  specially  re 
served  for  a  Jackson  to  foretell  what  a  Jackson  might  do. 
Speaking  of  some  future  President,  Mr.  Jackson — I  believe  of 
Georgia — that  was  his  name.  What  a  coincidence  !  "  If  he 
wants  to  establish  an  arbitrary  authority,  and  finds  the  secretary 
of  finance,  (Mr.  Duane)  not  inclined  to  second  his  endeavors,  ho 
has  nothing  more  to  do  than  to  remove  him,  and  get  one  ap 
pointed,  (Mr.  Taney)  of  principles  more  congenial  with  his  own. 
Then,  says  he,  I  have  got  the  army ;  let  me  have  but  the  money, 
and  I  will  establish  my  throne  upon  the  ruins  of  your  vis 
ionary  republic.  Black,  indeed,  is  the  heart  of  that  man  who 
even  suspects  him,  (WASHINGTON)  to  be  capable  of  abusing 
powers.  But,  alas !  he  cannot  be  with  us  forever ;  he  is  but 
mortal,"  &c.  "May  not  a  man  with  a  Pandora's  box  in  his 
breast  come  into  power,  and  give  us  sensible  cause  to  lament 
our  present  confidence  and  want  of  foresight." 

In  the  early  stages,  and  during  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
debate,  the  prevailing  opinion  seemed  to  be  not  that  the  Presi 
dent  was  invested  by  the  constitution  with  the  power,  but  that 
it  should  be  conferred  upon  him  by  act  of  Congress.  In  the  pro 
gress  of  it  the  idea  was  suddenly  started  that  the  President  pos 
sessed  the  power  from  the  constitution,  and  the  first  opinion  was 
abandoned.  It  was  finally  resolved  to  shape  the  acts,  on  the 
passage  of  which  the  question  arose,  so  as  to  recognize  the  ex 
istence  of  the  power  of  removal  in  the  President. 

Such  is  the  solitary  precedent  on  which  the  contemners  of  all 
precedents  rely  for  sustaining  this  tremendous  power  in  one 
man !  A  precedent  established  against  the  weight  of  argument, 
by  a  House  of  Representatives  greatly  divided,  in  a  Senate  equal 
ly  divided,  under  the  influence  of  a  reverential  attachment  to 
the  father  of  his  country,  upon  the  condition  that,  if  the  power 
were  applied  as  we  know  it  has  been  in  hundreds  of  instances 
recently  applied,  the  President  himself  would  be  justly  liable  to 
impeachment  and  removal  from  office,  and  which,  until  this  ad 
ministration,  has  never,  since  its  adoption,  been  thoroughly  ex 
amined  or  considered.  A  power,  the  abuses  of  which,  as  de 
veloped  under  this  administration,  if  they  be  not  checked  and 
corrected,  must  inevitably  tend  to  subvert  the  constitution,  and 
overthrow  public  liberty.  A  standing  army  has  been  in  all  free 
countries,  a  Just  object  of  jealousy  and  suspicion.  But  is  not  a 
corps  of  one  hundred  thousand  dependents  upon  government, 
actuated  by  one  spirit,  obeying  one  will,  and  aiming  at  one 
end,  more  dangerous  and  formidable  than  a  standing  army? 
The  standing  army  is  separated  from  the  mass  of  srciety,  sta 
tioned  in  barracks  or  military  quarters,  and  operates  by  physical 
force.  The  official  corps  is  distributed  and  ramified  throughout 
the  whole  country,  dwelling  in  every  city,  village,  and  hamlet, 
having  daily  intercourse  with  society,  and  operates  on  public 
opinion.  A  brave  people,  not  yet  degenerated,  and  devoted  t« 
26* 


306  ON  THE  APPOINTING 

liberty,  may  successfully  defend  themselves  against  a  military 
force.  Bat  if  the  official  corps  is  aided  by  the  executive,  by  the 
post-office  department,  and  by  a  large  portion  of  the  public 
press,  its  power  is  invincible.  That  the  operation  of  the  prin 
ciple  which  subjects  to  the  will  of  one  man  the  tenure  of  all 
offices,  which  he  may  vacate  at  pleasure,  without  assigning  any 
cause,  must  be  to  render  them  subservient  to  his  purposes,  a 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  arid  the  short  experience  which  we 
have  had,  clearly  demonstrate. 

It  may  be  asked  why  has  this  precedent  of  1789  not  been  re 
viewed  '?  Does  not  the  long  acquiescence  in  it  prove  its  pro 
priety?  It  has  not  been  re-examined  for  several  reasons.  In 
the  first  place,  all  feel  and  own  the  necessity  of  some  more  sum 
mary  and  less  expensive  and  less  dilatory  mode  of  dismissing 
delinquents  from  subordinate  offices  than  that  of  impeachment, 
which,  strictly  speaking,  was  perhaps  the  only  one  in  the  con 
templation  of  the  framers  of  the  constitution ;  certainly  it  is  the 
only  one  for  which  it  expressly  provides.  Then,  under  all  the 
predecessors  of  the  President,  the  power  was  mildly  and  bene 
ficially  exercised,  having  been  always,  or  with  very  few  excep 
tions,  applied  to  actual  delinquents.  Notwithstanding  all  that 
has  been  said  about  the  number  of  removals  which  were  made 
during  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration,  they  were,  in  fact,  corn- 
paritively  few.  And  yet  he  came  into  power  as  the  head  of  a 
great  party,  which  for  years  had  been  systematically  excluded 
from  the  executive  patronage;  a  plea  which  cannot  be  urged 
in  excuse  for  the  present  chief  magistrate.  It  was  reserved  for 
him  to  act  on  the  bold  and  daring  principle  of  dismissing  from 
office  those  who  had  opposed  his  election ;  of  dismissing  from 
office  for  mere  difference  of  opinion  ! 

But  it  will  be  argued  that  if  the  summary  process  of  dismis 
sion  be  expedient  in  some  cases,  why  take  it  away  altogether  ? 
The  bill  under  consideration  does  not  disturb  the  power.  By 
the  usage  of  the  government,  not  I  think  by  the  constitution, 
the  President  practically  possesses  the  power  to  dismiss  those 
who  are  unworthy  of  holding  these  offices.  By  no  practice  or 
usage,  but  that  which  he  himself  has  created,  has  he  the  power 
to  dismiss  meritorious  officers  only  because  they  differ  from  him 
in  politics.  The  principal  object  of  the  bill  is  to  require  the 
President,  in  cases  of  dismission,  to  communicate  the  reasons 
which  have  induced  him  to  dismiss  the  officer ;  in  other  words, 
to  'make  an  arbitrary  and  despotic  power  a  responsible  power. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that,  if  the  President  is  bound  publicly 
to  state  his  reasons,  that  he  would  act  from  passion  or  caprice, 
or  without  any  reason.  He  would  be  ashamed  to  avow  that  he 
discharged  the  officer  because  he  opposed  his  election.  And 
yet  this  mild  regulation  of  the  power  is  opposed  by  the  friends 
of  the  administration!  They  think  it  unreasonable  that  the  Presi 
dent  should  state  his  reasons.  If  he  has  none,  perhaps  it  is. 

But,  Mr.  President,  although  the  bill  is,  I  think,  right  in  prin- 


AND  REMOVING  POWER.  307 

ciple,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  to  go  far  enough.  It  makes  no 
provision  for  the  insufficiency  of  the  reasons  of  the  President, 
By  restoring  or  doing  justice  to  the  injured  officer.  It  will  be 
some  but  not  sufficient  restraint  against  abuses.  I  have  there 
fore  prepared  an  amendment,  which  I  beg  leave  to  offer,  but 
which  I  will  not  press  against  the  decided  wishes  of  those  having 
the  immediate  care  of  the  bill.  By  this  amendment,*  as  to  all 
offices  created  by  law,  with  certain  exceptions,  the  power  at 
present  exercised  is  made  a  suspensory  power.  The  President 
may,  in  the  vacation  of  the  Senate,  suspend  the  officer  and  ap 
point  a  temporary  successor.  At  the  next  session  of  the  Senate 
he  is  to  communicate  his  reasons ;  and  if  they  are  deemed  suffi 
cient  the  suspension  is  confirmed,  and  the  Senate  will  pass  upon 
the  new  officer.  If  insufficient,  the  displaced  officer  is  to  be  re 
stored.  This  amendment  is  substantially  the  same  proposition 
as  one  which  I  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate  at 
its  last  session.  Under  this  suspensory  power,  the  President 
will  be  able  to  discharge  all  defaulters  or  delinquents ;  and  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  the  Senate  will  concur  in  all  such  dis 
missions.  On  the  other  hand,  it  will  insure  the  integrity  and 
independence  of  the  officer,  since  he  will  feel  that  if  he  honestly 
and  faithfully  discharges  his  official  duties,  he  cannot  be  dis- " 
placed  arbitrarily,  or  from  mere  caprice,  or  because  he  has  inde 
pendently  exercised  the  elective  franchise. 

It  is  contended  that  the  President  cannot  see  that  the  laws  are 
faithfully  executed,  unless  he  possesses  the  power  of  removal. 
That  injunction  of  the  constitution  imports  a  mere  general  super 
intendence,  except  where  he  is  specially  charged  with  the  ex 
ecution  of  a  law.  It  is  not  necessary  that  he  should  have  the 
power  of  dismission.  It  will  be  a  sufficient  security  against  the 
abuses  of  subordinate  officers  that  the  eye  of  the  President  is 
upon  them,  and  that  he  can  communicate  their  delinquency. 
The  state  executives  do  not  possess  this  power  of  dismission. 
In  several,  if  not  all,  the  states,  the  governor  cannot  even  dismiss 
the  secretary  of  state ;  yet  we  have  heard  no  complaints  of  the 
inefficiency  of  state  executives,  or  of  the  administration  of  the 
laws  of  the  states.  The  President  has  no  power  to  dismiss 
the  judiciary;  and  it  might  be  asked,  with  equal  plausibility, 
how  he  could  see  that  the  laws  are  executed,  if  the  judges 
will  not  conform  to  his  opinion,  and  he  cannot  dismiss  them  ? 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  argue  the  general  question,  in  con 
sidering  either  the  original  bill  or  the  amendment.  The  former 

*  The  amendment  was  in  the  following  words  : 

Beit  further  enacted,  That,  in  all  instances  of  appointment  to  office,  by  the  Presi 
dent,  by  and  with  the  advice  ami  consent  of  the  Senate,  the  power  of  removal  shall 
be  exercised  only  in  concurrence  with  the  Senate;  and  when  the  Senate  is  not  in 
session,  the  President  may  suspend  any  such  officer,  communicating  his  reasons  for 
the  suspension  during  the  first  month  of  its  succeeding  session,  and  if  the  Senate  con 
cur  with  him  the  officer  shall  be  removed,  but  if  it  do  not  concur  with  him,  the  officer 
shall  be  restored  to  office. 

Mr.  Clay  was  subsequently  induced  not  to  urge  his  amendment  at  this  time. 


308         ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION. 

does  not  touch  the  power  of  dismission,  and  the  latter  only 
makes  it  conditional  instead  of  being  absolute. 

It  may  be  said  that  there  are  certain  great  officers,  heads  of 
departments  and  foreign  ministers,  between  whom  and  the  Pre 
sident  entire  confidence  should  exist.  That  is  admitted.  But 
surely  if  the  President  remove  any  of  them,  the  people  ought  to 
know  the  cause.  The  amendment,  however,  does  not  reach 
those  classes  of  officers.  And  supposing,  as  I  do,  that  the  legis 
lative  authority  is  competent  to  regulate  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  dismission,  there  can  be  no  just  cause  to  apprehend 
that  it  will  fail  to  make  such  modifications  and  exceptions  as 
may  be  called  for  by  the  public  interest;  especially  as  what 
ever  bill  may  be  passed  must  obtain  the  approbation  of  th« 
chief  magistrate.  And  if  it  should  attempt  to  impose  improper 
restrictions  upon  the  executive  authority,  that  would  furnish  a 
legitimate  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  the  veto.  In  conclusion,  I 
ahall  most  heartily  vote  for  the  bill,  with  or  without  the  amend 
ment  which  I  have  proposed. 


THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION. 

On  the  resolution  to  expunge  a  part  of  the  Journal  for  the  session 

0/1833-1834. 
In  the  Senate,  Monday,  January  16, 1837. 

Mr.  Clay  rose  and  said  that,  considering  that  he  was  the 
mover  of  the  resolution  of  March,  1834,  and  the  consequent  re 
lation  in  which  he  stood  to  the  majority  of  the  Senate  by  whose 
vote  it  was  adopted,  he  had  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  say  some 
thing  on  this  expunging  resolution;  and  he  had  always  intended 
to  do  so  when  he  should  be  persuaded  that  there  existed  a  set- 
lied  purpose  of  pressing  it  to  a  final  decision.  But  it  had  been 
so  taken  up  and  put  do°vn  at  the  last  session — taken  up  one  day, 
when  a  speech  was  prepared  for  delivery,  and  put  down  when  it 
was  pronounced,  that  he  had:1  really  doubted  whether  there  ex 
isted  any  serious  intention  ofever  putting  it  to  the  vote.  At  the  very 
close  of  the  last  session,  it  will'  be  recollected  that  the  resolution 
came  up,  and  in  several  quarters  of  the  Senate  a  disposition  was 
manifested  to  come  to  a  definitive  decision.  On  that  occasion  he 
had  offered  to  waive  his  right  to  address  the  Senate,  and  silently 
to  vote  upon  the  resolution;  bat  it  was  again  laid  upon  the  table, 
and  laid  there  forever,  as  the  country  supposed,  and  as  he  be 
lieved.  It  is, however,  now  revived;  and  sundry  changes  having 
taken  place  in  the  members  of  this  body,  it  would  seem  that  the 
present  design  is  to  bring- the  resolution  to  an  absolute  conclu 
lion. 

I  have  not  risen,  continued  Mr.  Clay,  to  repeat,  at  full  length, 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION.          309 

the  argument  by  which  the  friends  of  the  resolution  of  March, 
1834,  sustained  it.  That  argument  is  before  the  world,  was  un 
answered  at  the  time,  and  is  unanswerable.  And  I  here,  in  my 
place,  in  the  presence  of  my  country  and  my  GOD.  after  the  full 
est  consideration  and  deliberation  of  which  my  mind  is  capable, 
re-assert  my  solemn  conviction  of  the  truth  of  every  proposition 
contained  in  that  resolution.  But,  whilst  it  is  not  my  intention  to 
commit  such  an  infliction  upon  the  Senate  as  that  would  be  of 
retracing  the  whole  ground  of  argument  formerly  occupied,  I  de 
sire  to  lay  before  it,  at  this  time,  a  brief  and  true  state  of  the 
the  case.  Before  the  fatal  step  is  taken  of  giving  to  the  expung 
ing  resolution  the  sanction  of  the  American  Senate,  I  wish  by 
presenting  a  faithful  outline  of  the  real  questions  involved  in  the 
resolution  of  1834,  to  make  a  last,  even  if  it  is  to  be  an  ineffectual 
appeal  to  the  sober  judgments  of  senators.  I  begin  by  re-assert 
ing  the  truth  of  that  resolution. 

Our  British  ancestors  understood  perfectly  well  the  immense 
importance  of  the  money  power  in  a  representative  government. 
It  is^the  great  lever  by  which  the  crown  is  touched,  and  made  to 
conform  its  administration  to  the  interests  of  the  kingdom,  and  the 
will  of  the  people.  Deprive  parliament  of  the  power  of  freely 
granting  or  withholding  supplies,  and  surrender  to  the  king  the 
purse  of  the  nation,  he  instantly  becomes  an  absolute  monarch. 
Whatever  may  be  the  form  of  government,  elective  or  hereditary, 
democratic  or  despotic,  that  person  who  commands  the  force  of 
the  nation,  and  at  the  same  time  has  uncontrolled  possession  of 
the  purse  of  the  nation,  has  absolute  power,  whatever  may  be 
the  official  name  by  which  he  is  called. 

Our  immediate   ancestors,  profiting  by  the  lessons   on  civil 
liberty  which  had  been  taught  in  the  country  from  which  we 
sprung,  endeavored  to  encircle  around  the  public  purse,  in  the 
hands  of  Congress,  every  possible  security  against  the  intru 
sion  of  the  executive.     With  this  view,  Congress  alone  is  in 
vested,  by  the  constitution,  Avith  the  power  to  lay  and  collect  the 
taxes.     When  collected,  not  a  cent  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  pub 
lic  treasury,  but  in  virtue  of  an  act  of  Congress.     And,  among 
the  first  acts  of  this  government,  was  the  passage  of  a  law  es^ 
tablishing  the  treasury  department,  for  the  safe  keeping  and  the 
legal  and  regular  disbursement  of  the  money  so  collected.     By 
that  act  a  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  department ;  and,  varying  in  the  respect  from  all  the  other 
departments,  he  is  to  report,  not  to  the  _President,  but  directly  to 
Congress,  and  is  liable  to  be  called  to  give  information  in  person 
before  Congress.     It  is  impossible  to  examine  dispassionately 
that  act,  without  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  he  is  emphati 
cally  the  agent  of  Congress  in  performing  the  duties  assigned 
by^thc  constitution  to  Congress.     The  act  further  provides°that 
a  Treasurer  shall  be  appointed  to  receive  and  keep  the  public 
money,  and  none  can.be  drawn  from  his  custody  but  under  the 
authority  of  a  law,  and  in  virtue  of  a  warrant  drawn  by  the 


310          ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  countersigned  by  the  Comptroller 
and  recorded  by  the  Register.  Only  when  such  a  warrant  is 
presented  can  the  Treasurer  lawfully  pay  one  dollar  from  the 
public  purse.  Why  was  the  concurrence  of  these  four  officers 
required  in  disbursements  of  the  public  money?  Was  it  not  for 
greater  security?  Was  it  not  intended  that  each,  exercising  a 
separate  and  independent  will,  should  be  a  check  upon  every 
other  ?  Was  it  not  the  purpose  of  the  law  to  consider  each  of 
these  four  officers,  acting  in  his  proper  sphere,  not  as  a  mere 
automaton,  but  as  an  intellectual,  intelligent  and  responsible 
person,  bound  to  observe  the  law,  and  to  stop  the  warrant,  or 
etop  the  money,  if  the  authority  of  the  law  were  wanting? 

Thus  stood  the  treasury  from  1789  to  1816.  During  that  long 
time  no  President  had  ever  attempted  to  interfere  with  the  cus 
tody  of  the  public  purse.  It  remained  where  the  law  placed  it, 
undisturbed,  and  every  Chief  Magistrate,  including  the  father 
of  his  country,  respected  the  law. 

In  1816  an  act  passed  to  establish  the  late  bank  of  the  United 
States  for  the  term  of  twenty  years;  and,  by  the  16th  section 
of  the  act,  it  is  enacted  "that  the  deposites  of  the  money  of  the 
United  States  in  places  in  which  the  said  bank  and  the  branch 
es  thereof  may  be  established,  shall  be  made  in  said  bank  or 
branches  thereof,  unless  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall 
at  any  time  otherwise  order  and  direct;  in  which  case,  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  shall  immediately  lay  before  Congress, 
.if  in  session,  and,  if  not,  immediately  after  the  commencement 
of  the  next  session,  the  reasons  of  such  order  or  direction." 

Thus  it  is  perfectly  manifest,  from  the  express  words  of  the 
law,  that  the  power  to  make  any  order  or  direction  for  the  remo 
val  of  the  public  deposites  is  confided  to  the  Secretary  alone,  to 
the  absolute  exclusion  of  the  President,  and  all  the  world  besides. 
And  the  law,  proceeding  upon  the  established  principle  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  all  that  concerns  the  public  purse, 
acts  as  the  direct  agent  of  Congress,  requires,  in  the  event  01 
his  ordering  or  directing  a  removal  of  the  deposites,  that  he 
shall  immediately  lay  his  reasons  therefor  before  whom?  The 
President?  No;  before  Congress. 

So  stood  the  public  treasury  and  the  public  deposites  from  the 
year  1816  to  September,  1833.  In  all  that  period  of  seventeen 
years,  running  through  or  into  four  several  administrations  of 
the  government,  the  law  had  its  uninterrupted  operation,  no 
Chief  Magistrate  having  assumed  upon  himself  the  power  of 
diverting  the  public  purse  from  its  lawful  custody,  or  of  substi 
tuting  his  will  to  that  of  the  officer  to  whose  care  it  was  exclu 
sively  entrusted, 

In  the  session  of  Congress  of  1832-'3  an  inquiry  had  been 
instituted  by  the  House  of  Representatives  into  the  condition 
of  the  bank  of  the  United  States.  It  resulted  in  a  conviction 
of  its  entire  safety,  and  a  declaration  by  the  House,  made  only 
a  abort  time  before  the  adjournment  of  Congress  on  the  fourth 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION,         311 

of  March,  1833,  that  the  public  deposites  were  perfectly  secure. 
This  declaration  was  probably  made  in  consequence  of  suspi 
cions  then  afloat  of  a  design  on  the  part  of  the  executive  to 
remove  the  deposites.  These  suspicions  were  denied  by  the 
press  friendly  to  the  administration.  Nevertheless,  the  member* 
nad  scarcely  reached  their  respective  homes,  before  measure* 
were  commenced  by  the  executive  to  effect  a  removal  of  the 
deposites  from  that  very  place  of  safety  which  it  was  among  the 
last  acts  of  the  House  to  declare  existed  in  the  bank  of  the 
United  States. 

In  prosecution  of  this  design,  Mr.  McLain,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  who  was  decidedly  opposed  to  such  a  measure, 
was  promoted  to  the  Department  of  State,  and  Mr.  Duane  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him.  But  Mr.  Duane  was  equally  con 
vinced  with  his  predecessor  that  he  was  forbidden  by  every 
•consideration  of  duty  to  execute  the  power  with  which  the  law 
had  entrusted  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  refused  to 
-remove  the  deposites;  whereupon  he  was  dismissed  from  office, 
•a  new  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  appointed,  and,  in  Sep 
tember,  1833,  by  the  command  of  the  President,  the  measure 
was  finally  accomplished.  That  it  was  the  President's  act  was 
never  denied,  but  proclaimed,  boasted,  defended.  It  fell  upon 
the  country  like  a  thunderbolt,  agitating  the  Union  from  one 
extremity  to  the  other.  The  stoutest  adherents  of  the  adminis 
tration  were  alarmed ;  and  all  thinking  men,  not  blinded  by  party 
prejudice,  beheld  in  the  act  a  bold  and  dangerous  exercise  of 
power;  and  no  human  saga  city  can  now  foresee  the  tremendous 
consequences  which  will  ensue.  The  measure  was  adopted 
not  long  before  the  approaching  session  of  Congress ;  and,  as 
the  concurrence  of  both  branches  might  be  necessary  to  compel 
a  restoration  of  the  deposites,  the  object  was  to  take  the  chance 
of  a  possible  division  between  them,  and  thereby  defeat  the 
restoration. 

And  where  did  the  President  find  the  power  for  this  most 
extraordinary  act?  It  has  been  seen  that  the  constitution, 
jealous  of  all  executive  interference  with  the  treasury  of  the 
nation,  has  confined  it  to  the  exclusive  care  of  Congress,  by 
every  precautionary  guard,  from  the  first  imposition  of  the 
taxes  to  the  final  disbursement  of  the  public  money. 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  language  of  the  sixteenth  section 
of  the  law  of  1816  is  express  and  free  from  all  ambiguity;  and 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  the  sole  and  exclusive  de 
pository  of  the  authority  which  it  confers. 

Those  who  maintain  the  power  of  the  President  have  to  sup 
port  it  against  the  positive  language  of  the  constitution,  againm 
the  explicit  words  of  the  statute,  and  against  the  genius  and 
theory  of  all  our  institutions. 

And  how  do  they  surmount  these  insuperable  obstacles'?  By 
a  series  of  far-fetched  implications,  which,  if  every  one  of  them. 
were  as  true  ae  they  are  believed  to  be  incorrect  or  perverted, 


312          ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION. 

would  stop  far  short  of  maintaining  the  power  which  was. exer 
cised. 

The  first  of  these  implied  powers  is,  that  of  dismissal,  which 
is  claimed  for  the  President.  Of  all  the  questioned  powers  ever 
exercised  by  this  government,  this  is  the  most  questionable. 
From  the  first  Congress  down  to  the  present  administration,  it 
had  never  been  examined.  It  was  carried,  then,  in  the  Senate, 
by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Vice  President.  And  those  who,  at 
that  day,  argued  in  behalf  of  the  power,  contended  for  it  upon 
conditions  which  have  been  utterly  disregarded  by  the  present 
Chief  Magistrate.  The  power  of  dismissal  is  no  where  in  the 
constitution  granted,  in  express  terms,  to  the  President.  It  is 
not  a  necessary  incident  to  any  granted  power ;  and  the  friends 
of  the  power  have  never  been  able  to  agree  among  themselves 
as  to  the  precise  part  of  the  constitution  from  which  it  springs. 

But,  if  the  power  of  dismissal  was  as  incontestable  as  it  is 
justly  controvertible,  we  utterly  deny  the  consequences  deduced 
from  it.  The  argument  is,  that  the  President  has,  by  implica 
tion,  the  power  of  dismissal.  From  this  first  implication  another 
is  drawn,  and  that  is,  that  the  President  has  the  power  to  con 
trol  the  officer,  whom  he  may  dismiss,  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties,  in  all  cases  whatever ;  and  that  this  power  of  control  is 
so  comprehensive  as  to  include  even  the  case  of  a  specific  duty 
expressly  assigned  by  law  to  the  designated  officer. 

Now,  we  deny  these  results  from  the  dismissing  power.  That 
power,  if  it  exists,  can  draw  after  it  only  a  right  of  general 
superintendence.  It  cannot  authorize  the  President  to  substitute 
his  will  to  the  will  of  the  officer  charged  with  the  performance 
of  official  duties.  Above  all,  it  cannot  justify  such  a  substitution 
in  a  case  where  the  law,  as  in  the  present  instance,  assigns  to  a 
designated  officer  exclusively  the  performance  of  a  particular 
duty,  and  commands  him  to  report,  not  to  the  President,  but  to 
Congress,  in  a  case  regarding  the  public  purse  of  the  nation, 
committed  to  the  exclusive  control  of  Congress. 

Such  a  consequence  as  that  which  I  am  contesting  would 
concentrate  in  the  hands  of  one  man  the  entire  executive  power 
of  the  nation,  uncontrolled  and  unchecked. 

It  would  be  utterly  destructive  of  all  official  responsibility. — 
Instead  of  each  officer  being  responsible,  in  his  own  separate 
sphere,  fur  his  official  acts,  he  would  shelter  himself  behind  the 
orders  of  the  President.  And  what  tribunal,  in  heaven  above 
or  on  earth  below,  could  render  judgment  against  any  officer  for 
an  act,  however  atrocious,  performed  by  the  express  command 
of  the  President,  which;  according  to  the  argument,  he  was  abso 
lutely  bound  to  obey? 

Whilst  all  official  responsibility  would  be  utterly  annihilated 
in  subordinated  officers,  there  would  be  no  practical  or  available 
responsibility  in  the  President  himself. 

But  the  case  has  been  supposed,  of  a  necessity  for  the  remo 
val  of  the  deposites,  and  a  refusal  of  the  Secretary  of  the 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION.          313 

Treasury  to  remove  them;  and  it  is  triumphantly  asked  if,  in 
such  a  case,  the  President  may  not  remove  him,  and  command 
the  deed  to  be  done.  That  is  an  extreme  case,  which  may  be 
met  by  another.  Suppose  the  President,  without  any  necessity, 
orders  the  removal  from  a  place  of  safety  to  a  place  of  hazard. 
If  there  be  danger  that  a  Secretary  may  neglect  his  duty,  there 
is  equal  danger  that  a  President  may  abuse  his  authority. — 
Infallibility  is  not  a  human  attribute.  And  there  is  more  secu 
rity  for  the  publ»3  in  holding  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
the  strict  performance  of  an  official  duty  specially  assigned  to 
him,  under  all  his  official  responsibility,  than  to  allow  the  Presi- 
d'ent  to  wrest  the  work  from  his  hands,  annihilate  his  responsi 
bility,  and  stand  himself  practically  irresponsible.  It  is  far  bet 
ter  that  millions  should  be  lost  by  the  neglect  of  a  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  than  to  establish  the  monstrous  principle  that 
all  the  checks  and  balances  of  the  executive  government  shall 
be  broken  down,  the  whole  power  absorbed  by  one  man,  and 
his  will  become  the  supreme  rule.  The  argument  which  I  am 
combatting  places  the  whole  treasury  of  the  nation  at  the  mercy 
of  the  executive.  It  is  in  vain  to  talk  of  appropriations  by  law, 
and  the  formalities  of  warrants  upon  the  treasury.  Assuming 
the  argument  to  be  correct,  what  is  to  prevent  the  execution  of 
an  order  from  the  President  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
issue  a  warrant,  without  the  sanction  of  a  previous  legal  appro 
priation,  to  the  Comptroller  to  countersign  it,  to  the  Register  to 
register  it,  and  to  the  Treasurer  to  pay  it?  What  becomes  of 
that  quadruple  security  which  the  precaution  of  the  law  pro 
vided?  Instead  of  four  substantive  and  independent  wills,  acting 
under  legal  obligations,  all  are  merged  in  the  executive  voters. 

But  there  was,  in  point  of  fact,  no  cause,  none  whatever,  for 
the  measure.  Every  fiscal  consideration,  (and  no  other  had  the 
Secretary  or  the  President  a  right  to  entertain,)  required  the 
deposites  to  be  left  undisturbed  in  the  place  of  perfect  safety 
where  by  law  they  were.  We  told  you  so  at  the  time.  We 
asserted  that  the  charges  of  insecurity  and  insolvency  of  the 
bank  were  without  the  slightest  foundation.  And  time,  that  great 
arbiter  of  human  controversies,  has  confirmed  all  that  we  said. 
The  bank,  from  documents  submitted  to  Congress  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  at  the  present  session,  appears  to  be  able 
not  only  to  return  every  dollar  of  the  stock  held  in  its  capital  by 
the  public,  but  an  addition  of  eleven  per  cent,  beyond  it. 

Those  who  defend  the  executive  act  have  to  maintain  not  only 
that  the  President  may  assume  upon  himself  the  discharge  of  a 
duty  specially  assigned  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  but 
that  he  may  remove  that  officer,  arbitrarily,  aud  without  any 
cause,  because  he  refused  to  remove  the  public  deposites  without 
cause. 

My  mind  conducts  me  to  a  totally  different  conclusion.  I 
thinlc,  I  solemnly  believe,  that  the  President  "assumed  upon  him- 


314          v~J  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION. 

self  authority  and  power  riot  conferred  by  the  constitution  and 
laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both,"  in  the  language  of  the  resolu 
tion.  I  believed  then  in  the  truth  of  the  resolution ;  and  I  now 
in  my  place,  and  under  all  my  responsibility,  re-avow  my  unsha 
ken  conviction  of  it. 

But  it  has  been  contended  on  this  occasion,  as  it  was  in  the 
debate  which  preceded  the  adoption  of  the  resolution  of  1834. 
that  the  Seriate  has  no  right  to  express  the  truth  on  any  question 
which,  by  possibility,  may  become  a  subject  of  impeachment.  It 
is  manifest  that  if  it  may,  there  is  no  more  usual  or  appropriate 
form  in  which  it  may  be  done  than  that  of  resolutions,  joint  01 
separate,  orders,  or  bills.  In  no  other  mode  can  the  collective 
sense  of  the  body  be  expressed.  But  Senators  maintain  that  no 
matter  what  may  be  the  executive  encroachment  upon  the  joint 
powers  of  the  two  houses,  or  the  separate  authority  of  the  Sen 
ate,  it  is  bound  to  stand  mute,  and  not  breathe  one  word  of  com 
plaint  or  remonstrance.  According  to  the  argument,  the  greater 
the  violation  of  the  constitution  or  the  law,  the  greater  the  incom- 
petency  of  the  Senate  to  express  any  opinion  upon  it !  Further, 
that  this  incompetency  is  not  confined  to  the  acts  of  the  President 
only,  but  extends  to  those  of  every  officer  who  is  liable  to  im 
peachment  under  the  constitution.  Is  this  possible  ?  Can  it  be 
true?  Contrary  to  all  the  laws  of  nature,  is  the  Senate  the  only 
being  which  has  no  power  of  self-preservation — no  right  to  com 
plain  or  to  remonstrate  against  attacks  upon  its  very  existence  ? 

The  argument  is,  that  the  Senate,  being  the  constitutional  tri 
bunal  to  try  all  impeachments,  is  thereby  precluded  from  the  ex 
ercise  of  the  right  to  express  any  opinion  upon  any  official  mal 
feasance,  except  when  acting  in  its  judicial  character. 

If  this  disqualification  exist,  it  applies  to  all  impeachable  offi 
cers,  and  ought  to  have  protected  the  late  Postmaster  Genera! 
against  the  resolution,  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Senate,  de 
claring  that  he  had  borrowed  money  contrary  to  law.  And  it 
would  disable  the  Senate  from  considering  that  treasury  order, 
which  has  formed  such  a  prominent  subject  of  its  deliberations 
during  the  present  session. 

And  how  do  Senators  maintain  this  obligation  of  the  Senate 
to  remain  silent  and  behold  itself  stript,  one  by  one.  of  all  its  con 
stitutional  powers,  without  resistance,  and  without  murmur  ?  Is 
it  imposed  by  the  language  of  the  constitution  ?  Has  any  part 
of  that  instrument  been  pointed  to  which  expressly  enjoins  it  ? 
No,  no,  not  a  syllable.  But  it  is  attempted  to  be  deduced  by 
another  far-fetched  implication.  Because  the  Senate  is  the  body 
which  is  to  try  impeachments,  therefore  it  is  inferred  the  Senate 
can  express  no  opinion  on  any  matter  which  may  form  the  sub 
ject  of  impeachment.  The  constitution  does  not  say  so.  That 
is  undeniable ;  but  Senators  think  so. 

The  Senate  acts  in  three  characters,  legislative,  executive  and 
judicial ;  and  their  importance  is  in  the  order  enumerated.  By 
tar  the  most  important  of  the  three  is  its  legislative.  In  that,  al- 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION.         315 

most  every  day  that  it  has  been  in  session  from  1789  to  the  pre 
sent  time,  some  legislative  business  has  been  transacted ;  whilst, 
in  its  judicial  character,  it  has  not  sat  more  than  three  or  four 
times  in  that  whole  period. 

Why  should  the  judicial  function  limit  and  restrain  the  legis 
lative  function  of  the'  Senate,  more  than  the  legislative  should 
the  judicial  ?  If  the  degree  of  importance  of  the  two  should 
decide  which  ought  to  impose  the  restraint,  in  cases  of  conflict 
between  them,  none  can  doubt  which  it  should  be. 

But  if  the  argument  is  sound,  how  is  it  possible  for  the  Senate 
to  perform  its  legislative  duties?  An  act  in  violation  of  the  con 
stitution  or  laws  is  committed  by  the  President  or  a  subordinate 
executive  officer,  and  it  becomes  necessary  to  correct  it  by  the 
passage  of  a  law.  The  very  act  of  the  President  in  question 
was  under  a  law  to  which  the  Senate  had  given  its  concurrence. 
According  to  the  argument,  the  correcting  law  cannot  originate 
in  the  Senate,  because  it  would  have  to  pass  in  judgment  upon 
that  act.  Nay,  more,  it  cannot  originate  in  the  house  and  be 
sent  to  the  Senate,  for  the  same  reason  of  incompetency  in  the 
Senate  to  pass  upon  it.  Suppose  the  bill  contained  a  preamble 
reciting  the  unconstitutional  or  illegal  act,  to  which  the  legisla 
tive  corrective  is  applied,  according  to  the  argument,  the  Senate 
must  not  think  of  passing  it.  Pushed  to  its  legitimate  conse 
quence,  the  argument  requires  the  House  of  Representatives  it 
self  cautiously  to  abstain  from  the  expression  of  any  opinion  upon 
an  executive  act,  except  when  it  is  acting  as  the  grand  inquest 
of  the  nation,  and  considering  articles  of  impeachment. 

Assuming  that  the  argument  is  well  founded,  the  Senate  is 
equally  restrained  from  expressing  any  opinion  which  would  im 
ply  the  innocence  or  the  guilt  of  an  impeachable  officer,  unless 
it  be  maintained  that  it  is  lawful  to  express  praise  and  approba 
tion,  but  not  censure  or  difference  of  opinion.  Instances  have 
occurred  in  our  past  history,  (the  case  of  the  British  minister, 
Jackson,  was  a  memorable  one,)  and  many  others  may  arise  in 
our  future  progress,  when,  in  reference  to  foreign  powers,  it  may 
be  important  for  Congress  to  approve  what  has  been  done  by  the 
executive,  to  present  a  firm  and  united  front,  and  to  pledge  the 
country  to  stand  by  and  support  him.  May  it  not  do  that? 
the  Senate  dare  not  entertain  and  express  any  opinion  upon  an 
executive  measure,  how  do  those  who  support  this  expunging 
resolution  justify  the  acquittal  of  the  President  which  it  pro 
claims  ? 

No  Senator  believed  in  1834  that,  whether  the  President  mer 
ited  impeachment  or  not,  he  ever  would  be  impeached.  In  point 
of  fact  he  has  not  been,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose 
that  he  never  will  be  impeached.  Was  the  majority  of  the  Sen 
ate,  in  a  case  where  it  believed  the  constitution  and  laws  to  have 
been  violated,  and  the  liberties  of  the  people  to  be  endangered, 
to  remain  silent,  and  to  refrain  from  proclaiming  the  truth,  be 
cause,  against  all  human  probability,  the  President  might  be  uor 


316          ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION. 

peached  by  a  majority  of  his  political  friends  in  the  House  of 


If  an  impeachment  had  been  actually  voted  by  the  House  of 
Representatives,  there  is  nothing  in  the  constitution  which  en 
joins  silence  on  the  part  of  the  Senate.  In  such  a  case,  it  would 
have  been  a  matter  of  propriety  for  the  consideration  of  each 
Senator  to  avoid  the  expression  of  any  opinion  on  a  matter  upon 
which,  as  a  sworn  judge,  he  would  be  called  to  act. 

Hitherto  I  have  considered  the  question  on  the  supposition  that 
the  resolution  of  March,  1834,  implied  such  guilt  in  the  President 
that  he  would  have  been  liable  to  conviction  on  a  trial  by  im 
peachment  before  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  But  the  re 
solution,  in  fact,  imported  no  such  guilt.  It  simply  affirmed  that 
he  had  "  assumed  upon  himself  authority  and  power  not  confer 
red  by  the  constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both."  It 
imputed  no  criminal  motives.  It  did  not  profess  to  penetrate  into 
the  heart  of  the  President.  According  to  the  phraseology  of  the 
resolution,  the  exceptionable  act  might  have  been  performed 
with  the  purest  and  most  patriotic  intention.  The  resolution  nei 
ther  affirmed  his  innocence,  nor  pronounced  his  guilt.  It  amounts 
then,  say  his  friends  on  this  floor,  to  nothing.  Not  so.  If  the 
constitution  be  trampled  upon,  and  the  laws  be  violated,  the  in 
jury  may  be  equally  great,  whether  it  has  been  done  with  good 
or  bad  intentions.  There  may  be  a  difference  to  the  officer,  none 
to  the  country.  The  country,  as  all  experience  demonstrates, 
has  most  reason  to  apprehend  those  encroachments  which  take 
place  on  plausible  pretexts,  and  with  good  intentions. 

I  put  it,  Mr.  President,  to  the  calm  and  deliberate  considera 
tion  of  the  majority  of  the  Senate,  are  you  ready  to  pronounce, 
in  the  face  of  this  enlightened  community,  for  all  time  to  come, 
and  whoever  may  happen  to  be  the  President,  that  the  Senate 
dare  not,  in  language  the  most  inoffensive  and  respectful,  remon 
strate  against  any  executive  usurpation,  whatever  may  be  its  de 
gree  or  danger  ? 

For  one,  I  will  not,  I  cannot.  I  believe  the  resolution  of  March, 
1831,  to  have  been  true  ;  and  that  it  was  competent  to  the  Sen 
ate  to  proclaim  the  truth.  And  I  solemnly  believe  that  the  Sen 
ate  would  have  been  culpably  neglectful  of  its  duty  to  itself,  to 
the  constitution,  and  to  the  country,  if  it  had  not  announced  the 
truth. 

But  let  me  suppose  that  in  all  this  I  am  mistaken ;  that  the  act 
of  the  President,  to  which  exception  was  made,  was  in  conform 
ity  with  the  spirit  of  our  free  institutions  and  the  language  of 
our  constitution  and  laws ;  and  that,  whether  it  was  or  not,  the 
Senate  of  1834  had  no  authority  to  pass  judgment  upon  it;  what 
right  has  the  Senate  of  1837,  a  component  part  of  another  Con 
gress,  to  pronounce  judgment  upon  its  predecessor  ?  How  can 
you  who  venture  to  impute  to  those  who  have  gone  before  you 
an  unconstitutional  proceeding,  escape  a  similar  imputation? 
What  part  of  the  constitution  communicates  to  you  any  authority 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION.         317 

to  arraign  and  try  your  predecessors  ?  In  what  article  is  con 
tained  your  power  to  expunge  what  they  have  done  ?  And  may 
not  the  precedent  lead  to  a  perpetual  code  of  defacement  and 
restoration  of  the  transactions  of  the  Senate  as  consigned  to  the 
public  records  ? 

Are  you  not  only  destitute  of  all  authority,  but  positively  for 
bidden  to  do  what  the  expunging  resolution  proposes?  The 
injunction  of  the  constitution  to  keep  a  journul  of  our  proceedings 
is  clear,  express  and  emphatic.  It  is  free  from  ambiguity :  no 
sophistry  can  pervert  the  explicit  language  of  the  instrument ; 
no  artful  device  can  elude  the  force  of  the  obligation  which  it 
imposes.  If  it  were  possible  to  make  more  manifest  the  duty  which 
it  requires  to  be  performed,  that  was  done  by  the  able  and  elo 
quent  speeches,  at  the  last  session,  of  the  senators  from  Virginia 
and  Louisiana,  (Messrs.  Leigh  and  Porter,)  and  at  this  of  my 
colleague.  I  shall  not  repeat  the  argument.  But  I  would  ask, 
if  there  were  no  constitutional  requirement  to  keep  a  journal, 
what  constitutional  right  has  the  Senate  of  this  Congress  to  pass 
in  judgment  upon  the  Senate  of  another  Congress,  and  to  ex 
punge  from  its  journal  a  deliberate  act  there  recorded  ?  Can 
an  unconstitutional  act  of  that  Senate,  supposing  it  to  be  so, 
justify  you  in  performing  another  unconstitutional  act? 

But,  in  lieu  of  any  argument  upon  the  point  from  me,  I  beg 
leave  to  cite  for  the  consideration  of  the  Senate  two  precedents: 
one  drawn  from  the  reign  of  the  most  despotic  monarch  in  mod 
ern  Europe,  under  the  most  despotic  minister  that  ever  bore 
sway  over  any  people :  and  the  other  from  the  purest  fountain 
of  democracy  in  this  country.  I  quote  from  the  interesting  life 
ot  the  Cardinal  Richelieu,  written  by  that  most  admirable  and 
popular  author.  Mr.  James.  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  brother 
of  Louis  XIII,  liad  been  goaded  into  rebellion  by  the  wary  Rich 
elieu.  The  king  issued  a  decree  declaring  all  the  supporters  of 
the  duke  guilty  of  high  treason,  and  a  copy  of  it  was  despatched 
to  the  Parliament  at  Paris,  with  an  order  to  register  it  at  once. 
The  Parliament  demurred,  and  proceeded  to  what  was  called 
an  arret  de  partage.  "  Richelieu,  however,  could  bear  no  con 
tradiction  in  the  course  which  he  had  laid  down  for  himself ;" 
[how  strong  a  resemblance  does  that  feature  of  his  character 
bear  to  one  of  an  illustrious  individual  whom  I  will  not  further 
describe !]  "  and  hurrying  back  to  Paris  with  the  king,  he  sent, 
in  the  monarch's  name,  a  command  for  the  members  of  the  par 
liament  to  present  themselves  at  the  Louvre  in  a  body  arid  on 
foot.  He  was  obeyed  immediately :  and  the  king  receiving 
them  with  great  haughtiness,  the  keeper  of  the  seals  made  them 
a  speech,  in  which  he  declared  that  they  had  no  authority  to  de 
liberate  upon  affairs  of  state  ;  that  the  business  of  private  indi 
viduals  they  might  discuss,  but  that  the  will  of  the  monarch  iu 
other  matters  they  were  alone  called  upon  to  register.  The.  king 
then  tore  with  his  own  hands  the  page  of  the  register  on  which  the 


318         ON   THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION. 

arret  de  partage  had  been  inscribed,  and  punished  with  susperir 
sion  from  their  functions  several  of  the  members  of  the  various 
courts  composing  the  Parliament  of  Paris."  How  repeated  acts 
of  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power  are  likely  to  subdue  the  spirit 
of  liberty,  and  to  render  callous  the  public  sensibility  and  the 
fate  which  awaits  us,  if  we  had  not  been  recently  unhappily 
taught  in  this  country,  we  may  learn  from  the  same  author. 
"The  finances  of  the  state  were  exhausted,  new  impositions 
were  devised,  and  a  number  of  new  offices  created  and  sold. 
Against  the  last  named  abuse  the  Parliament  ventured  to  re 
monstrate  ;  but  the  government  of  the  cardinal  had  for  its  first 
principle  despotism,  and  the  refractory  members  were  punished, 
some  with  exile,  some  with  suspension  of  their  functions.  All 
were  forced  to  comply  with  his  will,  and  the  Parliament,  unablo 
to  resist,  yielded,  step  by  step,  to  his  exactions." 

The  other  precedent  is  supplied  by  the  archives  of  the  democ 
racy  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1816,  when  it  was  genuine  and  unmix 
ed  with  any  other  ingredient. 

The  provisions  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  regard  to  the  obligation  to  keep  a  journal,  are 
substantially  the  same.  That  of  the  United  States  requires  that 
c;  each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from 
time  to  time  publish  the  same,  except  such  parts  as  may  in  their 
judgment  require  secrecy;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  mem 
bers  of  either  house  on  any  question  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one- 
fifth  of  the  members  present,  be  entered  on  the.  journal."  And 
that  of  Pennsylvania  is,  '-'each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its 
proceedings,  and  publish  them  weekly,  except  such  parts  as  re 
quire  secrecy,  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members,  on  any 
question  shall,  at  the  desire  of  any  two  of  them,  be  entered  on 
the  journals."  Whatever  inviolability,  therefore,  is  attached  to 
a  journal,  kept  in  conformity  with  the  one  constitution,  must  be 
equally  stamped  on  that  kept  under  the  other.  On  the  10th  of 
February,  1816,  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  "  the  speaker  informed  the  House  that  a  constitutional  ques 
tion  being  involved  in  a  decision  by  him  yesterday,  on  a  motion 
to  expunge  certain  proceedings  from  the  journal,  he  was  desi 
rous  of  having  the  opinion  of^the  house  on  that  decision,  viz : 
that  a  majority  can  expunge  from  the  journal  any  proceedings 
in  which  the  yeas  and  nays  have  not  been  called."  Whereupon 
Mr.  Holgate  and  Mr.  Smith  appealed  from  said  decision  ;  and 
on  the  question,  is  the  speaker  right  in  his  decision  ?  The 
members  present  voted  as  follows :  yeas  three,  nays  seventy- 
eight.  Among  the  latter  are  to  be  fonnd  the  two  senators  now 
representing  in  this  body  the  state  of  Pennsylvania.  On  the 
same  day  a  motion  was  made  by  one  of  them,  (Mr.  Buchanan) 
and  Mr.  Kelly,  and  read  as  follows :  "  Resolved,  That  in  the 
opinion  of  this  house  no  part  of  the  journals  of  the  house  can  be 
expunged  even  by  unanimous  consent." 

The  Senate  observes  that  the  question  arose  in  a  case  where 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION.         319 

(here  were  but  four  members  out  of  eighty-two  that  thought  it 
was  competent  to  the  House  to  expunge.  Had  the  yeas  and 
nays  been  called  and  recorded,  as  they  were  on  the  resolution 
of  March,  1834,  there  would  not  have  been  a  solitary  vote  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  Pennsylvania  in  support  of  the 
power  of  expunging. — And  if  you  can  expunge  the  resolution, 
why  may  you  not  expunge  also  the  recorded  yeas  and  nays  at 
tached  to  it  ? 

But  if  the  matter  of  expunction  be  contrary  to  the  truth  of  the 
case,  reproachful  for  its  base  subserviency,  derogatory  from  the 
just  and  necessary  powers  of  the  Senate,  and  repugnant  to  the 
constitutian  of  the  United  States,  the  manner  in  which  it  is  pro 
posed  to  accomplish  this  dark  deed  is  also  highly  exceptionable. 
The  expunging  resolution,  which  is  to  blot  out  or  enshroud  the 
four  or  five  lines  in  which  the  resolution  of  1834  stands  recorded, 
or  rather  the  recitals  by  which  it  is  preceded,  are  spun  out  into 
a  thread  of  enormous  length.  It  runs,  whereas,  and  whereas, 
and  whereas,  and  whereas,  &c.,  into  a  formidable  array  of  nine 
several  whereases.  One  who  should  have  the  courage  to  begin 
to  read  them,  unaware  of  what  was  to  be  their  termination, 
would  think  that  at  the  end  of  such  a  tremendous  display  he 
must  find  the  very  devil.  It  is  like  a  kite  or  a  comet,  except  that 
the  order  of  nature  is  inverted,  and  the  tail,  instead  of  being  be 
hind,  is  before  the  body  to  which  it  is  appended. 

I  shall  not  trespass  on  the  Senate  by  inquiring  into  the  truth 
of  all  the  assertions  of  fact  and  of  principle  contained  in  these  re 
citals.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  expose  them  all,  and  to  show 
that  not  one  of  them  has  more  than  a  colorable  foundation.  It 
is  asserted  by  one  of  them  that  the  President  was  put  upon  his 
trial,  and  condemned,  unheard,  by  the  Senate,  in  1834.  Was 
that  true  ?  Was  it  a  trial  ?  Can  the  majority  now  assert,  upon 
their  oaths,  and  in  their  consciences,  that  there  was  any  trial  or 
condemnation?  During  the  warmth  of  debate,  senators  might  en 
deavor  to  persuade  themselves  and  the  public  that  the  proceed 
ing  of  1834  was,  in  its  effects  and  consequences,  a  trial,  and 
would  be  a  condemnation  of  the  President;  but  now,  after  the 
lapse  of  near  three  years,  when  the  excitement  arising  from  an 
animated  discussion  has  passed  away,  it  is  marvellous  that  any 
one  should  be  prepared  to  assert  that  an  expression  of  the  opinion 
of  the  Senate  upon  the  character  of  an  executive  act  was  an  ar 
raignment,  trial  and  conviction  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States ! 

Another  fact,  asserted  in  one  of  those  recitals,  is,  that  the  reso 
lution  of  1834,  in  either  of  the  forms  in  which  it  was  originally 
presented,  or  subsequently  modified  prior  to  the  final  shape 
which  it  assumed  when  adopted,  would  have  been  rejected  by  a 
majority  of  the  Senate.  What  evidence  is  there  in  support  of 
this  assertion  ?  None.  It  is,  I  verily  believe  directly  contrary 
to  the  fact  In  either  of  the  modifications  of  the  resolution,  I 
have  not  a  doubt  that  it  would  have  passed  !  They  were  all 


320          ON  THE  EXPUNGING?  RESOLUTION. 

made  in  that  spirit  of  accommodation  by  which  the  mover  of  the 
resolution  has  ever  regulated  his  conduct  as  a  member  of  a  de 
liberative  body.  In  not  one  single  instance  did  he  understand 
from  any  senator  at  whose  request  he  made  the  modification, 
that,  without  it,  he  would  vote  against  the  resolution.  How? 
then,  can  even  the  senators,  who  were  of  the  minority  of  1834r 
undertake  to  make  the  assertion  in  question?  How  can  the  new 
senators,  who  have  come  here  since,  pledge  themselves  to  the 
fact  asserted,  in  the  recital  of  which  they  could  not  have  had  any 
conusance  ?  But  all  the  members  of  the  majority — the  veterans 
and  the  raw  recruits — the  six  years  men  and  six  weeks  men — 
are  required  to  concur  in  this  most  unfounded  assertion,  as  I  be 
lieve  it  to  be.  I  submit  it  to  one  of  the  latter  (looking  toward 
Mr.  Dana,  from  Maine,  here  by  a  temporary  appointment  from 
the  executive),  whether,  instead  of  innundatirig  the  Senate  with 
a  torrent  of  fulsome  and  revolting  adulation  poured  on  the  Pre 
sident,  it  would  not  be  wiser  and  more  patriotic  to  illustrate  the 
brief  period  of  his  senatorial  existence  by  some  great  measure 
fraught  with  general  benefit  to  the  whole  Union  ?  Or,  if  he  will 
not  or  cannot  elevate  himself  to  a  view  of  the  interest  of  the 
entire  country,  whether  he  had  not  better  dedicate  his  time  to 
an  investigation  into  the  causes  of  an  alien  jurisdiction  being 
•till  exercised  over  a  large  part  of  the  territory  of  the  state 
which  he  represents  ?  And  why  the  American  carrying  trade 
to  the  British  colonies,  in  which  his  state  was  so  deeply  interest 
ed,  has  been  lost  by  a  most  improvident  and  bungling  arrange 
ment? 

Mr.  President,  what  patriotic  purpose  is  to  be  accomplished 
by  this  expunging  resolution !  What  new  honor  or  fresh  laurels 
will  it  win  for  our  common  country?  Is  the  power  of  the  Sen 
ate  so  vast  that  it  ought  to  be  circumscribed,  and  that  of  the 
President  so  restricted  that  it  ought  to  be  extended?  What 
power  has  the  Senate?  None  separately.  It  can  only  act 
jointly  with  the  other  house,  or  jointly  with  the  executive.  And 
although  the  theory  of  the  constitution  supposes,  when  consulted 
by  him,  it  may  freely  give  an  affirmative  or  negative  response, 
according  to  the  practice,  as  it  now  exists,  it  has  lost  the  faculty 
of  pronouncing  the  negative  monosyllable.  When  the  Senate 
expresses  its  deliberate  judgment,  in  the  form  of  resolution,  that 
resolution  has  no  compulsory  force,  but  appeals  only  to  the  dis 
passionate  intelligence,  the  calm  reason,  and  the  sober  judgment 
of  the  community.  The  Senate  has  no  army,  no  navy,  no  pat 
ronage,  no  lucrative  offices,  nor  glittering  honors  to  bestow. 
Around  us  there  is  no  swarm  of  greedy  expectants,  rendering 
\as  homage,  anticipating  our  wishes,  and  ready  to  execute  our 
commands. 

How  is  it  with  the  President  ?  Is  he  powerless  ?  He  is  felt 
from  one  extremity  to  the  other  of  this  vast  republic.  By  means 
of  principles  which  he  has  introduced,  and  innovations  which  he 
has  made  in  our  institutions,  alas  !  but  too  much  countenanced 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION.          321 

the  yeas  and  nays  had  not  been  called.  Even  in  such  a  case 
by  Congress  and  a  confiding  people,  he  exercises  uncontrolled 
the  power  of  the  state.  In  one  hand  he  holds  the  purse,  and  in 
the  other  brandishes  the  sword  of  the  country.  Myriads  of  de 
pendents  and  partizans,  scattered  over  the  land,  are  ever  ready 
to  sing  hosannas  to  him,  and  to  laud  to  the  skies  whatever  he 
does.  He  has  swept  over  the  government,  during  the  last  eight 
years,  like  a  tropical  tornado.  Every  department  exhibits  traces 
of  the  ravages  of  the  storm.  Take,  as  one  example,  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States.  No  institution  could  have  been  more  pop 
ular  with  the  people,  with  Congress,  and  with  state  legislatures. 
None  ever  better  fulfilled  the  great  purposes  of  its  establishment. 
But  it  unfortunately  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  President ; 
he  spoke,  and  the' bank  lies  prostrate.  And  those  who  were 
loudest  in  its  praise  are  now  loudest  in  its  condemnation.  What 
object  of  his  ambition  is  unsatisfied  ?  When  disabled  from  age 
any  longer  to  hold  the  sceptre  of  power,  he  designates  his 
successor,  and  transmits  it  to  his  favorite  !  What  more  does  he 
want?  Must  we  blot,  deface  and  mutilate  the  records  of  the 
country  to  punish  the  presumptuousness  of  expressing  an  opinion 
contrary  to  his  own. 

What  patriotic  purpose  is  to  be  accomplished  by  this  expung 
ing  resolution?  Can  you  make  that  not  to  be  which  has 
been?  Can  you  eradicate  from  memory  and  from  history 
the  fact  that  in  March,  1834,  a  majority  o"f  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  passed  the  resolution  which  excites  your  enmity? 
Is  it  your  vain  and  wicked  object  to  arrogate  to  yourselves  that 
power  of  annihilating  the  past  which  has  been  denied  to  Omni 
potence  itself?  Do  you  intend  to  thrust  your  hands  into  our 
hearts  and  to  pluck  out  the  deeply  rooted  convictions  which  are 
there  ?  Or  is  it  your  design  merely  to  stigmatize  us  ?  You 
cannot  stigmatize  US. 

"  Ne'er  yet  did  base  dishonor  blur  our  name." 

Standing  securely  upon  our  conscious  rectitude,  and  bearing 
aloft  the  shield  of  the  constitution  of  our  country,  your  puny 
efforts  are  impotent,  and  we  defy  all  your  power.  Put  the  ma 
jority  of  1834  in  one  scale,  and  that  by  which  this  expunging 
resolution  is  to  be  carried  in  the  other,  and  let  truth  and  justice, 
in  heaven  above,  and  on  earth  below,  and  liberty  and  patriotism, 
decide  the  preponderance. 

What  patriotic  purpose  is  to  be  accomplished  by  this  expung 
ing  resolution?  Is  it  to  appease  the  wrath  and  to  heal  the 
•wounded  pride  of  the  chief  magistrate?  If  he  be  really  the  here 
that  his  friends  represent  him  he  must  despise  all  mean  conde 
scension,  all  grovelling  sycophancy,  all  self-degradation,  and 
self-abasement.  He  would  reject,  with  scorn  and  contempt,  as 
unworthy  of  his  fame,  your  black  scratches,  and  your  baby  lines 
in  the  fair  records  of  his  country.  Black  lines  !  Black  lines  I 


822          ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION. 

Sir,  I  hope  the  secretary  of  the  Senate  will  preserve  the  pea 
with  which  he  may  inscribe  them,  and  present  it  to  that  senator 
of  the  majority  whom  he  may  select,  as  a  proud  trophy,  to  be 
transmitted  to  his  descendants.  And  hereafter,  when  we  shall 
lose  the  forms  of  our  free  institutions,  all  that  now  remain  to  us, 
some  future  American  monarch,  in  gratitude  to  those  by  whose 
means  he  has  been  enabled,  upon  the  ruins  of  civil  liberty,  to 
erect  a  throno,  and  to  commemorate  especially  this  expunging 
resolution,  may  institue  a  new  order  of  knighthood,  and  confer 
on  it  the  appropriate  name  of  the  knight  of  the  black  lines. 

But  why  should  I  detain  the  Senate  or  needlessly  waste  my 
breath  in  fruitless  exertions.  The  decree  has  gone  forth.  It  is 
one  of  urgency,  too.  The  deed  is  to  be  done — that  foul  deed 
like  the  blood-stained  hands  of  the  guilty  Macbeth,  all  ocean's 
waters  will  never  wash  out.  Proceed,  then,  to  the  noble  work 
which  lies  before  you,  and  like  other  skilful  executioners,  do  it 
quickly.  And  when  you  have  perpetrated  it,  go  home  to  the 
people,  and  tell  them  what  glorious  honors  you  have  achieved 
tor  our  common  country.  Tell  them  that  you  have  extinguished 
one  of  the  brightest  and  purest  lights  that  ever  burnt  at  the  altar 
of  civil  liberty.  Tell  them  that  "you  have  silenced  one  of  the 
noblest  batteries  that  ever  thundered  in  defence  of  the  constitu 
tion,  and  bravely  spiked  the  cannon.  Tell  them  that,  hencefor 
ward,  no  matter  what  daring  or  outrageous  act  any  President 
may  perform,  you  have  forever  hermetically  sealed  the  mouth 
of  the  Senate.  Tell  them  that  he  may  fearlessly  assume  what 
power  he  pleases,  snatch  from  its  lawful  custody  the  public 
purse,  command  a  military  detachment  to  enter  the  halls  of  the 
Capitol,  overawe  Congress,  trample  down  the  constitution,  and 
raze  every  bulwark  of  freedom  ;  but  that  the  Senate  must  stand 
mute,  in  silent  submission,  and  not  dare  to  raise  its  opposing 
voice.  That  it  must  wait  until  a  House  of  Representatives, 
humbled  and  subdued  like  itself,  and  a  majority  of  it  composed 
of  the  partizans  of  the  President,  shall  prefer  articles  of  impeach 
ment.  Tell  them,  finally,  that  you  have  restored  the  glorious 
doctrine  of  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance,  and,  if  the 
people  do  not  pour  out  their  indignation  and  imprecations,  I 
liave  yet  to  learu  the  character  of  American  freemen. 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  323 


ON  THE  SUB -TREASURY. 

Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States^  February  19th, 

1838. 

Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  rose  and  addressed  the  Senate  as  fol 
lows:  I  have  seen  some  public  service,  passed  through  many 
troubled  times,  and  often  addressed  public  assemblies,  in  this 
capital  and  elsewhere;  but  never  before  have  I  risen  in  a  delibe 
rative  body,  under  more  oppressed  feelings,  or  with  a  deeper 
sense  of  awful  responsibility.  Never  before  have  I  risen  to 
express  my  opinions  upon  any  public  measure  fraught  with 
such  tremendous  consequences  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of 
the  country,  and  so  perilous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people,  as  I 
solemnly  believe  the  bill  under  consideration  will  be.  If  you 
knew,  sir,  what  sleepless  hours  reflection  upon  it  has  cost  me ; 
if  you  knew  with  what  fervor  and  sincerity  I  have  implored 
Divine  assistance  to  strengthen  and  sustain  me  in  my  opposition 
to  it,  I  should  have  credit  with  you.  at  least,  for  the  sincerity  of 
my  convictions,  if  I  shall  be  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  have  your 
concurrence  as  to  the  dangerous  character  of  the  measure.  And 
I  have  thanked  my  God  that  he  has  prolonged  my  life  until  the 
present  time,  to  enable  me  to  exert  myself  In  the  service  of  my 
country,  against  a  project  far  transcending,  in  pernicious  ten 
dency,  any  that  I  have  ever  had  occasion  to  consider.  I  thar.k 
him  for  the  health  I  am  permitted  to  enjoy ;  I  thank  him  for  the 
soft  and  sweet  repose  which  I  experienced  last  night ;  I  thank 
him  for  the  bright  and  glorious  sun  which  shines  upon  us  this 
day. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  at  this  time,  Mr.  President,  to  go  at 
large  into  a  consideration  of  the  causes  which  have  led  to  the 
present  most  disastrous  state  of  public  affairs.  That  duty  was 
performed  by  others,  and  myself^  at  the  extra  session  of  Con 
gress.  It  was  then  clearly  shown  that  it  sprung  from  the  ill- 
advised  and  unfortunate  measures  of  executive  administration. 
I  now  will  content  myself  with  saying  that,  on  the  4th  da/  of 
March,  1829.  Andrew  Jackson,  not  by  the  blessing  of  God,  was 
made  President  of  the  United  States;  that  the  country  then 
was  eminently  prosperous;  that  its  currency  was  as  sound  and 
safe  as  any  that  a  people  were  ever  blessed  with;  that,  through 
out  the  wide  extent  of  this  whole  Union,  it  possessed  a  uniform 
value ;  and  that  exchanges  were  conducted  with  such  regularity 
and  perfection,  that  funds  could  be  transmitted  from  one  ex 
tremity  of  the  Union  to  the  other,  with  the  least  possible  risk  or 
loss.  In  this  encouraging  condition  of  the  business  of  the  coun 
try,  it  remained  for  several  years,  until  after  the  war,  wantonly 
waged  against  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States,  was  com 
pletely  successful,  by  the  overthrow  of  that  invaluable  institu 
tion.  What  our  present  situation  is,  it  is  as  needless  to  describe 


324  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

as  it  is  painful  to  contemplate.  First  felt  in  our  great  commer 
cial  marts,  distress  and  embarrassment  have  penetrated  into  the 
interior,  and  now  pervade  almost  the  entire  Union.  It  has  been 
iustlv  remarked,  by  one  of  the  soundest  and  most  practical 
writers  that  I  have  had  occasion  to  consult,  that  "  all  convulsions 
in  the  circulation  and  commerce  of  every  country  must  originate 
in  the  operation  of  the  government,  or  in  the  mistaken  views 
and  erroneous  measures  of  those  possessing  the  power  ol  mtlu 
encino-  credit  and  circulation ;  for  they  are  not  otherwise  sus 
ceptible  of  convulsion,  and,  if  left  to  themselves,  they  will  find 
their  own  level,  and  flow  nearly  in  one  uniform  .stream/ 

Yes  Mr  President,  we  all  have  but  too  melancholly  a  con 
sciousness  of  the  unhappy  condition  of  our  country.  We  all  too 
well  know  that  our  noble  and  gallant  ship  lies  helpless  and  im 
movable  upon  breakers,  dismasted,  the  surge  beating  over  her 
venerable  sides,  and  the  crew  threatened  with  instantaneous 
destruction.  How  came  she  there?  Who  was  the  pilot  at  uie 
helm  when  she  was  stranded  ?  The  party  in  power !  1  he  pilot 
was  aided  by  all  the  science  and  skill,  by  all  tne  charts  and 
instruments  of  such  distinguished  navigators  as  Washington, 
the  Adamses.  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Monroe;  and  yet  h 
not  or  could  not,  save  the  public  vessel.  She  was  placed  in  her 
present  miserable  condition  by  his  bungling  navigation,  or  by 
his  want  of  skill  and  judgment.  It  is  impossible  lor  mm  to 
escape  from  one  or  the  other  horn  of  that  dilemma, 
him  at  liberty  to  choose  between  them. 

I  shall  endeavor,  Mr.  President,  in  the  course  of  the  address 
I  am  about  making,  to  establish  certain  propositions,  winch  I 
believe  to  be  incontestible ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  I 
will  state  them  severally  to  the  Senate.  I  shall  contend- 

1st  That  it  was  the  deliberate  purpose  and  fixed  design  ol 
the  late  administration  to  establish  a  government  bank— a  trea 
sury  bank-to  be  administered  and  controlled  by  the  executive 

G2dr  That'  with  that  view,  and  to  that  end,  it  was  its  aim  and 
intention  to' overthrow  the  whole  banking  system,  as  existing  in 
the  United  States  when  the  administration  came  into  power 
beginning  with  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  and  ending  witl 

3d.  That  the  attack  was  first  confined,  from  considerations 
of  Do'icv  to  the  bank  of  the  United  States;  but  that,  after  its 
overthrow  was  accomplished,  it  was  then  directed,  and  has  since 
been  continued,  against  the  state  banks. 

4th  That  the  present  administration,  by  its  acknowledge 
ments,  emanating  from  the  .highest  and  most  authentic  source, 
has  succeeded  to  the  principles,  plans  and  policy  of  the  preceding 
administration,  and  stands  solemnly  pledged  to  complete  and 
perfect  them. 

And  5th.  That  the  bill  under  consideration  is  intended  to 
execute  the  pledge,  by  establishing,  upon  the  rums  of  the  late 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  325 

>ank  of  the  United  States,  and  the  state  banks,  a  government 
bank,  to  be  managed  and  controlled  by  the  treasury  department, 
acting  under  the  commands  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States. 

I  believe,  solemnly  believe,  the  truth  of  every  one  of  these 
five  propositions.  In  the  support  of  them,  I  shall  not  rely  upon 
any  gratuitous  surmises  or  vague  conjectures,  but  upon  proofs, 
clear,  positive,  undeniable  and  demonstrative.  To  establish  the 
first  four,  I  shall  adduce  evidence  of  the  highest  possible  authen 
ticity,  or  facts  admitted  or  undeniable,  and  fair  reasoning  founded 
on  them.  And  as  to  the  last,  the  measure  under  consideration, 
I  think  the  testimony,  intrinsic  and  extrinsic,  on  which  I  depend, 
stamps,  beyond  all  doubt,  its  true  character  as  a  government 
bank,  and  ought  to  carry  to  the  mind  of  the  Senate  the  con 
viction  which  I  entertain,  and  in  which  I  feel  perfectly  confident 
the  whole  country  will  share. 

1.  My  first  proposition  is,  that  it  was  the  deliberate  purpose 
and  fixed  design  of  the  late  administration  to  establish  a  govern 
ment  Lank— a  treasury  bank — to  be  administered  arid  controlled 
by  the  executive  department.  To  establish  its  truth,  the  first 
proof  which  I  offer  is  the  following  extract  from  President  Jack 
son's  annual  message  of  December,  1S29 : 

"  The  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States  expires  in 
1836,  and  its  stockholders  will  most  probably  apply  for  a  renewal 
of  their  privileges.  In  order  to  avoid  the  evils  resulting  from 
precipitancy,  in  a  measure  involving  such  important  principle's, 
and  such  deep  pecuniary  interests,  I  feel  that  I  cannot,  in  justice 
to  the  parties  interested,  too  soon  present  it  to  the  consideration 
of  the  Legislature  and  the  people.  Both  the  constitutionality 
and  the  expediency  of  the  law  creating  this  bank  are  well  ques 
tioned  by  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens;  and  it  must 
be  admitted  by  all  that  it  has  failed  in  the  great  end  of  estab 
lishing  a  uniform  and  sound  currency. 

''Under  these  circumstances,  if  such  an  institution  is  deemed 
essential  to  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  government,  /  submit  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  Legislature,  whether  a  national  one,  founded 
upon  the  credit  of  the  government  and  its  revenues,  might  not 
be  devised,  which  would  avoid  all  constitutional  difficulties,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  secure  all  the  advantages  to  the  government 
and  the  country  that  were  expected  to  result  from  the  present 
bank." 

This  was  the  first  open  declaration  of  that  implacable  war 
against  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States,  which  was  afterwards 
waged  with  so  much  ferocity.  It  was  the  sound  of  the  distant 
bugle  to  collect  together  the  dispersed  and  scattered  forces,  and 
prepare  for  battle.  The  country  saw  with  surprise  the  statement 
that  "  the  constitutionality  and  expediency  of  the  law  creating 
this  bank  are  well  questioned  by  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,"  when,  in  truth  and  in  fact,  it  was  well  known  that  but 
28  ' 


326  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

few  then  doubted  the  constitutionality,  and  none  the  expediency 
of  it.  And  the  assertion  excited  much  greater  surprise,  that  "  it 
must  be  admitted  by  all  that  it  has  failed  in  the  great  end  of  es 
tablishing  a  uniform  and  sound  currency."  In  this  message,  too, 
whilst  a  doubt  is  intimated  as  to  the  utility  of  such  an  institution, 
President  Jackson  clearly  first  discloses  his  object  to  establish  a 
national  one,  founded  upon  the  credit  of  the  government  and  its 
revenues.  His  language  is  perfectly  plain  and  unequivocal. — 
Such  a  bank,  founded  upon  the  credit  of  the  government  and  its 
revenues,  would  secure  all  the  advantages  to  the  government 
and  the  country,  he  tells  us,  that  were  expected  to  result  from 
the  present  bank. 

In  his  annual  message  of  the  ensuing  year,  the  late  President 
says : 

"The  importance  of  the  principles  involved  in  the  inquiry, 
whether  it  will  be  proper  to  recharter  the  bank  of  the  United 
States,  requires  that  I  should  again  call  the  attention  of  Congress 
to  the  subject.  Nothing  has  occurred  to  lessen  in  any  degree  the 
dangers  which  many  of  our  citizens  apprehended  from  that  in 
stitution,  as  at  present  organized.  In  the  spirit  of  improvement 
and  compromise  which  distinguishes  our  country  and  its  institu- 
t^ons,  it  becomes  us  to  inquire  whether  it  be  not  possible  to  secure 
the  advantages  afforded  by  the  present  bank,  through  the  agency 
of  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  so  modified  in  its  principles  as  to 
"obviate  constitutional  and  other  objections. 

''•  It  is  thought  practicable  to  organize  such  a  bank,  with  the 
necessary  officers,  as  a  branch  of  the  treasury  department,  based 
on  the  public  and  individual  deposites,  without  power  to  make 
loans  or  purchase  property,  which  shall  remit  the  funds  of  the 
government ;  and  the  expense  of  whicli  may  be  paid,  if  thought 
advisable,  by  allowing  its  officers  to  sell  bills  of  exchange  to  pri 
vate  individuals  at  a  moderate  premium.  Not  being  a  corporate 
body,  having  no  stockholders,  debtors  and  property,  and  but  few 
officers,  it  would  not  be  obnoxious  to  the  constitutional  objections 
which  are1  urged  against  the  present  bank ;  and  having  no  means 
to  operate  on  the  hopes,  fears,  or  interests  of  large  masses  of  the 
community,  it  would  be  shorn  of  the  influence  which  makes  that 
bank  formidable." 

In  this  message,  President  Jackson,  after  again  adverting  to 
the  imaginary  dangers  of  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  recurs 
to  his  favorite  project,  and  inquires  "  whether  it  be  not  possible 
to  secure  the  advantages  afforded  by  the  present  bank,  through 
the  agency  of  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  so  modified  in  its 
principles  and  structure  as  to  obviate  constitutional  and  other 
objections.  And  to  dispel  all  doubts  of  the  timid,  and  to  confirm 
the  wavering,  he  declares  that  it  is  thought  practicable  to  orga 
nize  such  a  bank,  with  the  necessary  officers,  as  a  branch  of  the 
treasury  department.  .'Is  a  branch  of  the  treasury  department  ! 
The  very  scheme  now  under  consideration.  And,  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  such  an  anomalous  institution,  he  suggests  that  the 


•~.;V  y-v  .      ••.-.,  i.    ;;;  ,-;  j':: :  -w  ./V- 

ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  327 

officers  of  the  treasury  department  may  turn  bankers  and  bro 
kers,  arid  sell  bills  of  exchange  to  private  individuals  at  a  mode 
rate  premium ! 

In  his  annual  message  of  the  year  1831,  upon  this  subject,  he 
was  brief  and  somewhat  covered  in  his  expressions.  But  the 
fixed  purpose  which  he  entertained  is  sufficiently  disclosed  to  the 
attentive  reader.  He  announces  that. 

"  Entertaining  the  opinions  heretofore  expressed  in  relation  TO 
the  bank  of  the  United  States,  as  at  present  organized,  I  felt  it    j  *'  '••, 
my  duty,  in  my  former  messages,  frankly  to  disclose  them,  in 
order  that  the  attention  of  the  legislature  and  the  people  should     V 
be  seasonably  directed  to  that  important  subject,  and  that  it 
might  be  considered,  and  finally  disposed  of,  in  a  manner  best 
calculated  to  promote  the  cuds  of  the  constitution,  and  subserve 
the  public  interests." 

What  were  the  opinions  'heretofore'  expressed  we  have  clear 
ly  seen.  They  were  adverse  to  the  bank  of  the  United  States, 
as  at  present  organized,  that  is  to  say.  an  organization  with  any 
independent  corporate  government ;  and  in  favor  of  a  national 
bank,  which  should  be  so  constituted  as  to  be  subject  to  exclu 
sive  executive  control. 

At  the  session  of  1831-'32,  the  question  of  the  re-charter  of  the 
bank  of  the  United  States  came  up;  and  although  the  attention 
of  Congress  and  the  country  had  been  repeatedly  and  deliber-, 
ately  before  invited  to  the  consideration  of  it  by  President  Jack 
son  himself,  the  agitation  of  it  was  now  declared  by  him  and 
his  partizans  to  be  precipitate  and  premature.  Nevertheless, 
the  country  and  Congress,  conscious  of  the  value  of  a  safe  and 
sound  uniform  currency,  conscious  that  such  a  currency  had 
been  eminently  supplied  by  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  and, 
unmoved  by  all  the  outcry  raised  against  that  admirable  institu 
tion,  the  re-charter  commanded  large  majorities  in  both  houses 
of  Congress.  Fatally  for  the  interests  of  this  country,  the  stern 
self-will  of  General  Jackson  prompted  him  to  risk  every  thing 
upon  its  overthrow.  On  the  10th  of  July,  1832,  the  bill  was  re 
turned  with  his  veto :  from  which  the  following  extract  is  sub 
mitted  to  the  attentive  consideration  of  the  Senate. 

"A  bank  of  the  United  States  is,  in  many  respects,  convenient 
for  the  government  and  useful  to  the  people.  Entertaining  this 
opinion,  and  deeply  impressed  with  the  belief  that  some  of  the 
powers  and  privileges  possessed  by  the  existing  bank  are  unau 
thorized  by  the  constitution,  subversive  of  the  rights  of  the  states, 
and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people,  I  felt  it  my  duty,  at 
an  early  period  of  my  administration,  to  call  the  attention  of  Con 
gress  to  the  practicability  of  organizing  an  institution,  combin 
ing  all  its  advantages,  and  obviating  these  objections.  I  sincere 
ly  regret  that,  in  the  act  before  me,  I  can  perceive  none  of  those 
modifications  of  the  bank  charter  which  are  necessary,  in  my 
opinion,  to  make  it  compatible  with  justice,  with  sound  policy, 
or  with  the  constitution  of  our  country." 


328  ON  THE  SUB- TREASURY. 

"  That  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  competent  to  all  the  dutie 
which  may  be  required  by  government,  might  be  so  organized 
as  not  to  infringe  upon  our  own  delegated  powers,  or  the  re 
served  rights  of  the  states,  I  do  not  entertain  a  doubt.  Had  the 
executive  been  called  upon  to  furnish  the  project  of  such  an  in 
stitution  the  duty  would  have  been  cheerfully  performed.  In  the 
absence  of  such  a  call,  it  is  obviously  proper  that  he  should  con 
fine  himself  to  pointing  out  those  prominent  features  in  the  act 
~  presented,  which  in  his  opinion,  make  it  incompatible  with  the 
constitution  and  sound  policy." 

President  Jackson  admits,  in  the  citation  which  has  just  been 
made,  that  a  bank  of  the  United  States  is,  in  many  respects, 
convenient  for  the  government ;  and  reminds  Congress  that  he 
had,  at  an  early  period  of  his  administration,  called  its  attention 
to  the  practicability  of  so  organizing  such  an  institution  as  to 
secure  all  its  advantages,  without  the  defects  of  the  existing 
bank.  It  is  perfectly  manifest  that  he  alludes  to  his  previous 
recommendations  of  a  government— a  treasury  bank.  In  the 
same  message  he  tells  Congress,  that  if  he  had  been  called  up 
on  to  furnish  the  project  of  such  an  institution,  the  duty  would 
have  been  cheerfully  performed.  Thus  it  appears  that  he  had 
not  only  settled  in  his  mind  the  general  principle,  but  had  ad 
justed  the  details  of  a  government  bank,  to  be  subjected  to  ex 
ecutive  control;  and  Congress  is  even  chided  for  not  calling 
upon  him  to  present  them.  The  bill  now  under  consideration, 
beyond  all  controversy,  is  the  very  project  which  he  had  in 
view,  and  is  to  consummate  the  work  which  he  began.  I  think, 
Mr.  President,  that  you  must  now  concur  with  me  in  considering 
the  first  proposition  as  fully  maintained.  I  pass  to  the  second 
and  third,  which,  on  account  of  their  intimate  connexion,  I  will 
consider  together. 

2.  That,  with  a  view  of  establishing  a  government  bank,  it 
was  the  settled  aim  and  intention  of  the  late  administration  to 
overthrow  the  whole  banking  system  of  the  United  States,  as 
existing  in  the  United  States  when  that  administration  came 
into  power,  beginning  with  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  and 
ending  with  the  state  banks. 

3.  That  the  attack  was  first  confined,  from  considerations  of 
policy,  to  the  bank  of  the  United  States  5  but  that,  after  its  over 
throw  was  accomplished,  it  was  then  directed,  and  has  since 
been  continued,  against  the  state  banks. 

We  are  not  bound  to  inquire  into  the  motives  of  President 
Jackson  for  desiring  to  subvert  the  established  monetary  and 
financial  system  which  he  found  in  operation ;  and  yet  some  ex 
amination  into  those  which  probably  influenced  his  mind  is  not 
without  utility.  These  are  to  be  found  in  his  peculiar  constitu 
tion  and  character.  His  egotism  and  vanity  prompted  him  to 
subject  every  thing  to  his  will ;  to  change,  to  remould,  and  re 
touch  every  thing.  Hence  the  proscription  which  characterized 
his  administration,  the  universal  expulsion  from  office,  at  home 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  329 

and  abroad,  of  all  who  were  not  devoted  to  him,  and  the  attempt 
to  render  the  executive  department  of  government,  to  use  a  fa 
vorite  expression  of  his  own,  a  complete  "  unit."  Hence  his 
seizure  of  the  public  deposits  in  the  bank  of  the  United  States, 
and  his  desire  to  unite  the  purse  with  the  sword.  Hence  his 
attack  upon  all  the  systems  of  policy  which  he  found  in  practical 
operation — on  that  of  internal  improvements,  and  on  that  of  the 
protection  of  national  industry.  He  was  animated  by  the  same 
sort  of  ambition  which  induced  the  master-mind  of  the  age, 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  to  impress  his  name  upon  every  thing  in 
France.  When  I  was  in  Paris,  the  sculptors  were  busily  En 
gaged  chiseling  out  the  famous  N.,  so  odious  to  the  Bourbon 
line,  which  had  been  conspicuously  carved  in  the  palace  of  the 
Tuilleries,  and  on  other  public  edifices  and  monuments  in  the 
proud  capital  of  France.  When,  Mr.  President,  shall  we  see 
effaced  all  traces  of  the  ravages  committed  by  the  administra 
tion  of  Andrew  Jackson  ?  Society  has  been  uprooted,  virtue 
punished,  vice  rewarded,  and  talents  and  intellectual  endow 
ments  despised ;  brutality,  vulgarism,  and  loco-focoism  upheld, 
cherished,  and  countenanced.  Ages  will  roll  around  before  the 
moral  and  political  ravages  which  have  been  committed,  will.  I 
fear,  cease  to  be  discernable.  General  Jackson's  ambition  was 
to  make  his  administration  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  American 
government,  and  he  has  accomplished  that  object  of  his  ambi 
tion  ;  but  I  trust  that  it  will  be  an  era  to  be  shunned  as  sad  and 
lamentable,  and  not  followed  and  imitated  as  supplying  sound 
maxims  and  principles  of  administration. 

I  have  heard  his  hostility  to  banks  ascribed  to  some  collision 
which  he  had  with  one  of  them,  during  the  late  war,  at  the  city 
of  New  Orleans  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  may  have  had  some  in 
fluence  upon  his  mind.  The  immediate  cause,  more  probably, 
was  the  refusal  of  that  perverse  and  unaccommodating  gentle 
man,  Nick  Biddle,  to  turn  out  of  the  office  of  president  of  the 
New  Hampshire  branch  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  at  the 
instance  of  his  excellency  Isaac  Hill,  in  the  summer  of  1829,  that 
giant-like  person,  Jeremiah  Mason — giant  in  body,  and  giant  in 
mind.  War  and  strife,  endless  war  and  strife,  personal  or  na 
tional,  foreign  or  domestic,  were  the  aliment  of  the  late  Presi 
dent's  existence.  War  against  the  bank,  war  against  France, 
and  strife  and  contention  with  a  countless  number  of  individu 
als.  The  wars  with  Black  Hawk  and  the  Seminoles  were 
scarcely  a  luncheon  for  his  voracious  appetite.  And  he  made 
his  exit  from  public  life,  denouncing  war  and  vengeance  against 
Mexico  and  the  slate  banks. 

My  acquaintance  with  that  extraordinary  man  commenced  in 
this  city,  in  the  fall  of  1815  or  1816.  It  was  short,  but  highly 
respectful,  and  mutually  cordial.  I  beheld  in  him  the  gallant 
and  successful  general,  who,  by  the  glorious  victory  of  New 
Orleans,  had  honorably  closed  the  second  war  of  our  indepen- 


330  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

derice,  and  I  paid  him  the  homage  due  to  that  eminent  service. 
A  few  years  after,  it  became  my  painful  duty  to  animadvert,  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  with  the  independence  which 
belongs  to  the  Representative  character,  upon  some  of  his  pro 
ceedings  in  the  conduct  of  the  Seminole  war,  which  I  thought 
illegal  and  contrary  to  the  constitution  and  the  law  of  nations. 
A  non-intercourse  between  us  ensued,  which  continued  until  the 
fall  of  1824,  when,  he  being  a  member  of  the  Senate,  an  accom 
modation  between  us  was  sought  to  be  brought  about  by  the 
principal  part  of  the  delegation  from  his  own  state.  For  that 
purpose,  we  were  invited  to  dine  with  them  at  Claxton's  boarding 
house,  on  Capitol  Hill,  where  my  venerable  friend  from  Tennes 
see,  (Mr.  White)  and  his  colleage  on  the  Spanish  commission, 
were  both  present.  I  retired  early  from  dinner,  and  was  follow 
ed  to  the  door  by  General  Jackson  and  the  present  minister  of 
the  United  States  at  the  Court  of  Madrid.  They  pressed  me 
earnestly  to  take  a  seat  with  them  in  their  carriage.  My  faith 
ful  servant  and  friend,  Charles,  was  standing  at  the  door  waiting 
for  me,  with  my  own.  I  yielded  to  their  urgent  politeness,  di 
rected  Charles  to  follow  with  my  carriage,  and  they  sot  me 
down  at  my  own  door.  We  afterwards  frequently  met,  with 
mutual  respect  and  cordiality ;  dined  several  times  together,  and 
reciprocated  the  hospitality  of  our  respective  quarters.  This 
friendly  intercourse  continued  until  the  election,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  of  a  President  of  the  United  States  came  on  in 
February,  1825.  I  gave  the  vote  which,  in  the  contingency  that 
happened,  I  told  my  colleague,  (Mr.  Crittenden,)  who  sits  be 
fore  me,  prior  to  my  departure  from  Kentucky,  in  November. 
1824,  and  told  others,  that  I  should  give.  All  intercourse  ceased 
between  General  Jackson  and  myself.  We  have  never  since, 
except  once  accidentally,  exchanged  salutations,  nor  met,  except 
on  occasions  when  we  were  performing  the  last  offices  towards 
deceased  members  of  Congress,  or  other  offices  of  government. 
Immediately  after  my  vote,  a  rancorous  war  was  commenced 
against  me,  and  all  the  barking  dogs  let  loose  upon  me.  I  shall 
not  trace  it  during  its  ten  years'  bitter  continuance.  But  I  thank 
my  God  that  I  stand  here,  firm  and  erect,  unbent,  unbroken,  un 
subdued,  unawed,  and  ready  to  denounce  the  mischievous  mea 
sures  of  this  administration,  and  ready^  to  denounce  this,  its  legit 
imate  offspring,  the  most  pernicious  of  them  all. 

His  administration  consisted  of  a  succession  of  astounding- 
measures,  which  fell  on  the  public  ear  like  repeated  bursts  of 
loud  and  appalling  thunder.  Before  the  reverberations  of  one 
peal  had  ceased,  another  and  another  came,  louder  and  louder, 
and  more  terrifying.  Or  rather,  it  was  like  a  volcanic  mountain, 
emitting  frightful  eruptions  of  burning  lava.  Before  one  was 
cold  and  crusted,  before  the  voice  of  the  inhabitants  of  buried 
villages  and  cities  were  hushed  in  eternal  silence,  another,  more 
desolating,  was  vomited  forth,  extending  wider  and  wider  the 
circle  of  death  and  destruction. 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  331 

Mr.  President,  this  is  no  unnecessary  digression.  The  per 
sonal  character  of  such  a  chief  as  I  have  been  describing,  his 
passions,  his  propensities,  the  character  of  his  mind,  should  be 
all  thoroughly  studied,  to  comprehend  clearly  his  measures,  and 
his  administration.  But  I  will  now  proceed  to  more  direct  and 
strict  proofs  of  my  second  and  third  propositions.  That  he  was 
resolved  to  break  down  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  is  proven 
by  the  same  citations  from  his  messages  which  I  have  made,  to 
exhibit  his  purpose  to  establish  a  treasury  bank,  is  proven  by 
his  veto  message,  and  by  the  fact  that  he  did  destroy  it.  The  • 
war  against  all  other  banks  was  not  originally  announced,  be 
cause  he  wished  the  state  banks  to  be  auxiliaries  in  over 
throwing  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  and  because  such 
an  annunciation  would  have  been  too  rash  and  shocking  up 
on  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  even  his  tremendous 
influence.  It  was  necessary  to  proceed  in  the  work  with 
caution,  and  to  begin  with  that  institution  against  which 
could  be  embodied  the  greatest  amount  of  prejudice.  The  re 
fusal  to  re-charter  the  bank  of  the  United  States  was  followed 
by  a  determination  to  remove  from  its  custody  the  public  money 
of  the  United  States.  That  determination  was  first  whispered  f 
in  this  place,  denied,  again  intimated,  and  finally,  in  September, 
1833,  executed.  The  agitation  of  the  American  public  which 
ensued,  the  warm  and  animated  discussions  in  the  country  and 
in  Congress,  to  which  that  unconstitutional  measure  gave  rise, 
are  all  fresh  in  our  recollection.  It  was  necessary  to  quiet  the 
public  mind,  and  to  reconcile  the  people  to  what  had  been  done, 
before  President  Jackson  seriously  entered  upon  his  new  career 
of  hostility  to  the  state  banks.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
session  of  Congress,  in  1834,  he  imagined  a  sufficient  calm  had 
been  produced,  and,  in  his  annual  message  of  that  year,  the  war 
upon  the  state  banks  was  opened.  In  that  message  he  says : 

"  It  seems  due  to  the  safety  of  the  public  funds  remaining  in 
that  bank,  and  to  the  honor  of  the  American  people,  that  mea 
sures  be  taken  to  separate  the  government  entirely  from  an 
institution  so  mischievous  to  the  public  prosperity,  and  so  re 
gardless  of  the  constitution  and  laws.  By  transferring  the  pub 
lic  deposites,  by  appointing  other  pension  agents,  as  far  as  it 
had  the  power,  by  ordering  the  discontinuance  of  the  receipt  of 
bank  checks  in  payment  of  the  public  dues  after  the  first  day  of 
January  next,  the  executive  has  exerted  all  its  lawful  authority  to 
sever  the  connexion  between  the  government  and  this  faithless 
corporation." 

In  this  quotation  it  will  be  seen  that  the  first  germ  is  con 
tained  of  that  separation  and  divorce  of  the  government  from 
banks,  which  has  recently  made  such  a  conspicuous  figure.  It 
relates,  it  is  true,  to  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States,  and  he 
speaks  of  separating  and  severing  the  connexion  between  the 
government  and  that  institution.  But  the  idea,  once  developed, 
was  easily  susceptible  of  application  to  all  banking  institutions. 


•  v     k;  •  -."'•;••;**  <  ''•  •<•  *^ 

332  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

In  the  message  of  the  succeeding  year,  his  meditated  attack  up 
on  the  state  banks  is  more  distinctly  disclosed.  Speaking  ot  a 
sound  currency  he  says : 

"  In  considering  the  means  of  obtaining  so  important  an  end. 
[that  is,  a  sound  currency,]  we  must  set  aside  all  calculations 
of  temporary  convenience,  and  be  influenced  by  those  only  that 
are  in  harmony  with  the  true  character  and  permanent  interests 
of  the  republic.  We  must  recur  to  first  principles,  and  see  what 
it  is  that  has  prevented  the  legislation  of  Congress  and  the 
states  on  the  subject  of  currency  from  satisfying  the  public  ex 
pectation,  and  realizing  results  corresponding  to  those  which 
have  attended  the  action  of  our  system  when  truly  consistent 
with  the  o-reat  principle  of  equality  upon  which  it  rests,  and  with 
that  spirit  of  forbearance  and  mutual  concession  and  generous 
patriotism  which  was  originally,  and  must  ever  continue  to  be, 
the  vital  element  of  our  Union. 

'rCn  this  subject,  I  am  sure  that  I  cannot  be  mistaken  m 
ascribing  our  want  of  success  to  the  undue  countenance  which 
has  been  afforded  to  the  spirit  of  monopoly.  All  the  serious 
dangers  which  our  system  has  yet  encountered  may  be  traced 
to  the  resort  to  implied  powers,  and  the  use  of  corporations 
clothed  with  privileges,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  advance  the  in 
terests  of  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many.  We  have  (ell 
bat  one  class  of  these  dangers,  exhibited  in  the  contest  waged 
bv  the  bank  of  the  United  States  against  the  govenment  tor  the 
last  four  years.  Happily,  they  have  been  obviated  for  the  pre 
sent  by  the  indignant  resistance  of  the  people ;  but  we  should 
recollect  that  the  principle  whence  they  sprang  is  an  ever-active 
one,  which  will  not  fail  to  renew  its  efforts  in  the  same  and  m 
other  forms,  so  lono-  as  there  is  a  hope  of  success;  founded  either 
on  the  inattention  of  the  people,  oMhe  treachery  of  their  repre 
sentatives  to  the  subtle  progress  of  its  influence.' 

*  *        *        cc  \ye  are  now  to  see  whether,  in  the  present 
favorable  condition  of  the  country,  we  cannot  take  an  effectual 
stand  ao-ainst  this  spirit  of  monopoly,  and  practically  prove,  in 
respect  to  the  currency,  as  well  as  other  important  interests,  that 
there  is  no  necessity  for  so  extensive  a  resort  to  it  as  that  whi< 
has  been  heretofore  practised." 

*  *        *        "It  has  been  seen  that  without  the  agency  of 
a  trreat.  monied  monopoly  the  revenue  can  be  collected,  and  con 
veniently  and  safely  applied  to  all  the  purposes  of  the  public 
expenditure.    It  is  also  ascertained  that,  instead  of  being  neces 
sarily  made  to  promote  the  evils  of  an  unchecked  paper  system, 
the  management  of  the  revenue  can  be  made  auxiliary  to  the 
reform  which  the  legislatures  of  several  of  the  states  have  al 
ready  commenced  in  regard  to  the  suppression  ot  smalf  bills ; 
and  which  has  only  to  be  fostered  by  proper  regulations  on  the 
part  of  Congress,  to  secure  a  practical  return,  to  the  extent  re 
quired  for  the  security  of  the  currency,  to  the  constitutional 
medium." 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  33? 

'  As  in  the  instance  of  the  attack  upon  the  bank  of  the  United 
States,  the  approach  to  the  state  banks  is  slow,  cautious  and 
msidious.  He  reminds  Congress  and  the  country  that  all  calcu- 
Jations  of  temporary  convenience  must  be  set  aside ;  that  we 
must  recur  to  first  priaciples ;  and  that  we  must  see  what  it 
is  that  has  prevented  legislation  of  Congress  and  the  states 
on  the  subject  of  the  currency  from  satisfying  public  expec 
tation.  He  declares  his  conviction  that  the  want  of  success 
has  proceeded  from  undue  countenance  which  has  been  afford 
ed  to  the  spirit  of  monopoly.  All  the  serious  dangers  which 
our  system  has  yet  encountered,  may  be  traced  to  the  resort 
to  implied  powers,  and  to  the  use  of  corporations.  We  have 
felt,  iie  says,  but  one  class  of  these  dangers  in  the  contest 
with  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  and  he  clearly  intimates 
that  the  other  class  is  the  state  banks.  We  are  now  to  see,  he 
proceeds,  whether,  in  the  present  favorable  condition  of  the 
country,  we  cannot  take  an  effectual  stand  against  this  spirit  of 
monopoly.  Reverting  to  his  favorite  scheme  of  a  government 
bank,  he  says  it  is  ascertained  that,  instead  of  being  made  ne 
cessary  to  promote  the  evils  of  an  unchecked  paper  system,  the 
management  of  the  revenue  can  be  made  auxiliary  to  the  reform 
which  he  is  desirous  to  introduce.  The  designs  of  President 
Jackson  against  the  state  banks  are  more  fully  developed  and 
enlarged  upon  in  his  annual  message  of  1836,  from  which  I  beg 
leave  to  quote  the  following  passages : 

"  I  beg  leave  to  call  your  attention  to  another  subject  intimately 
associated  with  the  preceding  one— the  currency  of  the  country. 

"  It  is  apparent,  from  the  whole  context  of  the  constitution,  as 
well  as  the  history  of  the  times  that  gave  birth  to  it,  that  it  was 
the  purpose  of  the  convention  to  establish  a  currency  consisting 
of  the  precious  metals.  These,  from  their  peculiar  properties, 
which  rendered  them  the  standard  of  value  in  all  other  countries, 
were  adopted  in  this,  as  well  to  establish  its  commercial  stand 
ard,  in  reference  to  foreign  countries,  by  a  permanent  rule,  as 
to  exclude  the  use  of  a  mutable  medium  of  exchange,  such  as  of 
certain  agricultural  commodities,  recognized  by  the  statutes  of 
some  states  as  a  tender  for  debts,  or  the  still  more  pernicious  ex 
pedient  of  a  paper  currency. 

"Variableness  must  ever  be  the  characteristic  of  a  currency 
of  which  the  precious  metals  are  not  the  chief  ingredient,  or 
which  can  be  expanded  or  contracted  without  regard  to  the 
principles  that  regulate  the  value  of  those  metals  as  a  standard 
in  the  general  trade  of  the  world.  With  us,  bank  issues  consti 
tute  such  a  currency,  and  must  ever  do  so,  until  they'are  made 
dependent  on  those  just  proportions  of  gold  and  silver,  as  a 
circulating  medium,  which  experience  has  proved  to  be  neces 
sary,  not  only  in  this,  but  in  all  other  commercial  countries. — 
Where  those  proportions  are  not  infused  into  the  circulation, 
and  do  not  control  it,  it  is  manifest  that  prices  must  vary  ac 
cording  to  the  tide  of  bank  issues,  and  the  value  and  stability 


334  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

of  property  must  stand  exposed  to  all  the  uncertainty  which 
attends  the  administration  of  institutions  that  are  constantly  lia 
ble  to  the  temptation  of  an  interest  distinct  from  that  of  the 
community  in  which  they  are  established." 

::  But,  although  various  dangers  to  our  republican  institutions 
have  been  obviated  by  the  failure  of  that  bank  to  extort  from 
the  government  a  renewal  of  its  charter,  it  is  obvious  that  little 
has  been  accomplishedj  except  a  salutary  change  of  public 
opinion,  towards  restoring  to  the  country  the  sound  currency 
provided  for  in  the  constitution.  In  the  acts  of  several  of  the 
states  prohibiting  the  circulation  of  small  notes,  and  the  auxiliary 
enactments  of  Congress  at  their  last  session,  forbidding  their 
reception  or  payment  on  public  account,  the  true  policy  of  the 
country  'has  been  advanced,  and  a  larger  portion  of  the  precious 
metals  infused  into  our  circulating  medium.  These  measures 
will  probably  be  followed  up  in  due  time  by  the  enactment  of 
state  laws,  banishing  from  circulation  bank  notes  of  still  higher 
denominations ;  and  the  object  may  be  materially  promoted  by 
further  acts  of  Congress,  forbidding  the  employment,  as  fiscal 
agents,  of  such  banks  as  issue  notes  of  low  denominations,  and. 
throw  impediments  in  the  way  of  the  circulation  of  gold  and 
silver." 

"  The  effects  of  an  extension  of  bank  credits  and  over-issues 
of  bank  paper,  have  been  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands.  From  the  returns  made  by  the  various  registers 
and  receivers  in  the  early  part  of  last  summer,  it  was  perceived 
that  the  receipts  arising  from  the  sales  of  public  lands  were  in 
creasing  to  an  unprecedented  amount.  In  effect,  however,  these 
receipts  amount  to  nothing  more  than  credits  in  banks.  The 
banks  lent  out  their  notes  to  speculators;  they  were  paid  to  the 
receivers,  and  immediately  returned  to  the  banks,  to  be  lent  out 
again  and  again,  being  mere  instruments  to  transfer  to  specula 
tors  the  most  valuable  public  land,  and  pay  the  government 
by  a  credit  on  the  books  of  the  banks.  Those  credits  on  the 
books  of  some  of  the  western  banks,  usually  called  deposites, 
were  already  greatly  beyond  their  immediate  means  of  payment, 
and  were  rapidly  increasing.  Indeed,  each  speculation  furnished 
means  for  another ;  for  no  sooner  had  one  individual  or  company 
paid  in  the  notes,  than  they  were  immediately  lent  to  another 
for  a  like  purpose ;  and  the  banks  were  extending  their  business 
and  their  issues  so  largely  as  to  alarm  considerate  men,  and 
render  it  doubtful  whether  these  bank  credits,  if  permitted  to 
accumulate,  would  ultimately  be  of  the  least  value  to  the  govern 
ment.  The  spirit  of  exipansion  and  speculation  was  not  confined 
to  the  deposite  banks,  but  pervaded  the  whole  multitude  of  banks 
throughout  the  Union,  and  was  giving  rise  to  new  institutions  to 
aggravate  the  evil. 

"  The  safety  of  the  public  funds,  and  the  interest  of  the  people 
generally,  required  that  these  operations  should  be  checked; 
and  it  became  the  duty  of  every  branch  of  the  general  and 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  335 

state  governments  to  adopt  all  legitimate  and  proper  means  to 
produce  that  salutary  effect.    Under  this  view  of  my  duty,  I 
directed  the  issuing  of  the  order,  which  will  be  laid  before  you 
by  the   Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  requiring  payment  of  the 
public  lands  sold  to  be  made  in  specie,  with  an  exception  until 
the  fifteenth  of  the  present  month  in  favor  of  actual  settlers.— 
This  measure  has  produced  many  salutary  consequences.     It 
.checked  the  career  of  the  western  banks,  and  gave  them  addi 
tional  strength  in  anticipation  of  the  pressure  "which  has  since 
pervaded  our  eastern  as  well  as  the  European  commercial  cities. 
By  preventing  the  expansion  of  the  credit  system,  it  measurably 
cut  oft'  the  means  of  speculation,  and  retarded  its  progress  in 
7uonopolizirig   the   most  valuable  of  the  public  lands. *  It  has 
tended  to  save  the  new  states  from  a  non-resident  proprietor 
ship—one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  advancement  of  a  new 
country  and  the  prosperity  of  an  old  one.     It  has  tended  to  keep 
open  the  public  lands  for  entry  by  emigrants  at  government 
prices,  instead  of  their  being  compelled  to  purchase  of  specula 
tors  at  doable  or  treble  prices.    And  it  is  conveying  into  the 
interior  large  sums  in  silver  and  gold,  there  to  enter  permanently 
into  the  currency  of  the  country,  and  place  it  on  a  firmer  founda 
tion.     It  is  confidently  believed  that  the  country  will  find,  in  the 
motives  which  induced  that  order,  and  the  happy  consequences 
which  have  ensued,  much  to  commend  and  nothing  to  condemn." 
It  is  seen  that  he  again  calls  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the 
currency  of  the  country,  alledges  that  it  was  apparent  from  the 
whole  context  of  the  constitution,  as  well  as  the  history  of  the 
times  that  gave  birth  to  it,  that  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  conven 
tion  to  establish  a  currency  consisting  of  .the  precious  metals; 
imputes  variableness  and  a  liability  to  inordinate   contraction 
and  expansion  to  the  existing  paper  system,  and  denounces  bank 
issues  as  being  an  uncertain  standard.     He  felicitates  himself 
upon  the  dangers  which  have  been  obviated  by  the  overthrow 
of  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  but  declares  that  little  has 
been  yet  done,  except  to  produce  a    salutary  change  of  public 
opinion  towards  restoring  to   the  country  the  sound  currency 
provided  for  in  the  constitution.     I  will  here  say,  in  passing. 
thai  all  this  outcry  about  the  precious  metals,  gold,  and  the 
constitutional  currency,  has  been  put  forth  to  delude  the  people, 
and  to  use  the  precious  metals  as  an  instrument  to  break  down 
the  banking  institutions  of  the  states,  and  to  thus  pave  the  way 
ibr  the  ultimate  establishment  of  a  great  government  bank.    In 
the,  present  advanced  state  of  civilization,  in  the  present  condi 
tion  of  the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  in  the  actual  relations 
of  trade  and  intercourse  between  the  different  nations  of  the 
world,  it  is  perfectly  chimerical  to  suppose  that  the  currency 
of  the  United  States  should  consist  exclusively,  or  principally, 
of  the  precious  rnetals. 

In  the  quotations  which  I  have  made  from  the  last  annual 
message  of  General  Jackson,  he  speaks  of  the  extension  of  bank 


336  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

credits,  and  the  over-issues  of  bank  paper,  in  the  operations  upon 
the  sales  of  public  lands.  In  his  message  of  only  the  preceding 
year,  the  vast  amount  of  those  sales  had  been  dwelt  upon  with 
peculiar  complaisance,  as  illustrating  the  general  prosperity  of 
the  country,  and  as  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  his  administration. 
But  now  that  which  had  been  announced  as  a  blessing  is  depre 
cated  as  a  calamity.  Now,  his  object  being  to  assail  the  bank 
ing  institutions  of  the  states,  and  to  justify  that  fatal  treasury 
order,  which  I  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  notice,  he  ex 
presses  his  apprehension  of  the  danger  to  which  we  are  exposed 
of  losing  the  public  domain,  aud  getting  nothing  for  it  but  bank 
credits.  He  describes,  minutely,  the  circular  process  by  which 
the  notes  of  the  banks  passed  out  of  those  institutions  to  be 
employed  in  the  purchase  of  the  public  lands,  and  returned 
again  to  them  in  the  form  of  credits  to  the  government  He 
forgets  that  Mr.  Secretary  Taney,  to  reconcile  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  the  daring  measure  of  removing  the  public 
deppsites,  had  stimulated  the  banks  to  the  exercise  of  great  libe 
rality  in  the  grant  of  loans.  He  informs  us,  in  that  message, 
that  the  safety  of  the  public  funds,  and  the  interests  of  the  peo 
ple  generally,  required  that  these  copious  issues  of  the  banks 
should  be  checked,  and  that  the  conversion  of  the  public  lands 
into  mere  bank  credits  should  be  arrested.  And  his  measure  to 
accomplish  these  objects  was  that  famous  treasury  order,  already 
adverted  to.  Let  us  pause  here  for  a  moment,  and  contemplate 
the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  issued.  The  principle 
of  the  order  had  been  proposed  and  discussed  in  Congress.  But 
one  Senator,  as  far  as  I  know,  in  this  branch  of  the  Legislature, 
arid  not  a  solitary  member,  within  my  knowledge,  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  was  in  favor  of  it.  And  yet,  in  about  a 
week  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  the  principle,  which 
met  with  no  countenance  from  the"  legislative  authority,  was 
embodied  in  the  form  of  a  treasury  edict,  and  promulgated  under 
the  executive  authority,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States. 

If  we  possessed  no  other  evidence  whatever  of  the  hostility 
of  President  Jackson  to  the  state  banks  of  the  United  States, 
that  order  would  supply  conclusive  proof.  Bank  notes,  bank 
issues,  bank  credits,  were  distrusted  and  denounced  by  him.  It 
was  proclaimed  to  the  people  that  they  were  unworthy  of  confi 
dence.  The  government  could  no  longer  trust  in  their  security. 
And  at  a  moment  when  the  banking  operations  were  extended, 
and  stretched  to  their  utmost  tension;  when  they  were  almost 
all  tottering  and  ready  to  fall,  for  the  want  of  that  metallic  basis 
on  which  they  all  rested,  the  executive  announces  its  distrust, 
issues  the  treasury  order,  and  enters  the  market,  for  specie,  by  a 
demand  of  an  extraordinary  amount  to  supply  the  means  of 
purchasing  the  public  lands.  If  the  sales  had  continued  in  the 
same  ratio  they  had  been  made  during  the  previous  year,  that 
is.  at  about  the  rate  of  twenty-four  millions  per  annum,  this  unpre- 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  337 

cedented  demand  created  by  government  for  specie  must  have 
exhausted  the  vaults  of  most  of  the  banks,  and  produced  much 
sooner  the  catastrophe  which  occurred  in  May  last.  And.  what 
is  more  extraordinary,  this  wanton  demand  for  specie  upon  all 
the  banks  of  the  commercial  capitals,  and  in  the  busy  and  thickly 
peopled  portions  of  the  country,  v/as  that  it  might  be  transported 
into  the  wilderness,  and,  after  having  been  used  in  the  purchase 
of  public  lands,  deposited  to  the  credit  of  the  government  in  the 
hooks  of  western  banks,  in  some  of  which,  according  to  the 
message,  there  were  already  credits  to  the  government  "greatly 
beyond  their  immediate  means  of  payment."  Government, 
therefore,  did  not  itself  receive,  or  rather  did  not  retain,  the  very 
specie  which  it  professed  to  demand  as  the  only  medium  worthy 
of  the  public  lands.  The  specie,  which  was  so  uselessly  exact 
ed,  was  transferred  from  one  set  of  banks,  to  the  derangement 
of  the  commerce  and  business  of  the  country,  and  placed  in  the 
vaults  of  another  set  of  banks  in  the  interior,  forming  only  those 
bank  credits  to  the  government  upon  which  President  Jackson 
placed  so  slight  a  value. 

Finally,  when  General  Jackson  was  about  to  retire  from  the 
cares  of  government,  he  favored  his  countrymen  with  a  farewell 
address.  The  solemnity  of  the  occasion  gives  to  any  opinions 
which  he  has  expressed  in  that  document  a  claim  to  peculiar 
attention.  It  will  be  seen,  on  perusing  it,  that  he  denounces, 
more  emphatically  than  in  any  of  his  previous  addresses,  the 
bank  paper  of  the  country,  corporations,  and  what  he  chooses  to 
denominate  the  spirit  of  monopoly.  The  Senate  will  indulge 
me  in  calling  its  attention  to  certain  parts  of  that  address,  in  the 
following  extracts: 

u  The  constitution  of  the  United  States  unquestionably  in 
tended  to  secure  to  the  people  a  circulating  medium  of  gold  and 
silver.  But  the  establishment  of  a  national  bank  by  Congress, 
with  the  privilege  of  issuing  paper  money  receivable  in  payment 
of  the  public  dues,  and  the  unfortunate  cause  of  legislation  in 
the  several  states  upon  the  same  subject,  drove  from  general 
circulation  the  constitutional  currency,  and  substituted  one  of 
paper  in  its  place." 

"The  mischief  springs  from  the  power  which  the  moneyed 
interest  derives  from  a  paper  currency,  which  they  are  able  to 
control;  from  the  multitude  of  corporations,  with  exclusive  privi 
leges,  which  they  have  succeeded  in  obtaining  in  the  different 
states,  and  which  are  employed  altogether  for  their  benefit ;  and 
unless  you  become  more  watchful  in  your  states,  and  check  this 
spirit  of  monopoly  and  thirst  for  exclusive  privileges,  you  will, 
in  the  end,  find  that  the  most  important  powers  of  government 
have  been  given  or  bartered  away,  and  the  control  over  your 
dearest  interests  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  these,  corpora 
tions." 

"  But  it  will  require  steady  and  persevering  exertions  on  your 
29 


338  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

part  to  rid  yourselves  of  the  iniquities  and  mischiefs  of  the  pa 
per  system,  and  to  check  the  spirit  of  monopoly  and  other  abuses 
which  have  sprung  up  with  it,  and  of  which  it  is  the  main  sup 
port.  So  many  interests  are  united  to  resist  all  reform  on  this 
subject,  that  you  must  not  hope  that  the  conflict  will  be  a  short, 
one,  nor  success  easy.  My  humble  efforts  have  not  been  spared, 
during  my  administration  of  the  government,  to  restore  the  con 
stitutional  currency  of  gold  and  silver:  and  something,  I  trust,  has 
been  done  towards  the  accomplishment  of  this  most  desirable 
object.  But  enough  yet  remains  to  require  all  your  energy  and 
perseverance.  The  power,  however,  is  in  your  hands,  and  the 
remedy  must  and  will  be  applied,  if  you  determine  upon  it.'5 

The  mask  is  now  thrown  off,  and  he  boldly  says  that  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  unquestionably  intended  to  se 
cure  to  the  people  a  circulating  medium  of  gold  and  silver. — 
They  have  not  enjoyed,  he  says,  that  benefit,  because  of  the 
establishment  of  a  national  bank,  and  the  unfortunate  course 
of  legislation  in  the  several  states.  He  does  not  limit  his  con 
demnation  of  the  past  policy  of  his  country  to  the  federal  govern 
ment,  of  which  he  had  just  ceased  to  be  the  chief,  but  he  extends 
it  to  the  states  also,  as  if  they  were  incompetent  to  judge  of  the 
interests  of  their  respective  citizens.  He  tells  us  that  the  mis 
chief  springs  from  the  power  which  the  monied  interest  derives 
from  a  paper  currency,  which  they  are  able  to  control,  and  the 
multitude  of  corporations;  and  he  stimulates  the  people  to  be 
come  more  watchful  in  their  several  states,  to  check  this  spirit 
of  monopoly.  To  invigorate  their  fortitude,  he  tells  the  people 
that  it  will  require  steady  and  persevering  exertions,  on  their 
part,  to  rid  themselves  of  the  iniquities  and  mischiefs  of  the 
paper  system,  and  to  check  the  spirit  of  monopoly.  They 
mast  not  hope  that  the  conflict  will  be  a  short  one,  nor  suc 
cess  easy.  His  humble  efforts  have  not  been  spared,  during  his 
administration,  to  restore  the  constitutional  currency  of  gold 
and  silver;  and,  although  he  has  been  able  to  do  something  to 
wards  the  accomplishment  of  that  object,  eiwugh  yet  remains  to 
require  all  the  energy  and  perseverance  of  the  people. 

Such,  Mr.  President,  are  the  proofs  and  the  argument  on  which 
I  rely  to  establish  the  second  and  third  propositions  which  I  have 
been  considering.    Are  they  not  successfully  maintained  ?    Is  \\ 
possible  that  any  thing  could  be  more  conclusive  on  such  a  sub 
ject? 

I  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the  fourth  proposition. 

4.  That  the  present  administration,  by  acknowledgments  em 
anating  from  the  highest  and  most  authentic  source,  has  succeed 
ed  to  the  principles,  plans,  and  policy,  of  the  preceding  admin 
istration,  and  stand  solemnly  pledged  to  complete  and  perfect 
them. 

The  proofs  on  this  subject  are  brief;  but  they  are  clear,  direct 
and  plenary.  It  is  impossible  for  any  unbiassed  mind  to  doubt 
for  a  moment  about  them.  You,  6ir3  will  be  surprised,  when  I 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  339 

shall  array  them  before  you,  at  their  irresistible  force.  The  first 
that  I  shall  offer  is  an  extract  from  Mr.  Van  Buren's  letter  of 
acceptance  of  the  nomination  of  the  Baltimore  convention,  dated 
May  23d,  1835.  In  that  letter  he  says : 

"  I  content  myself,  on  this  occasion," with  saying  that  I  consider 
myself  the  honored  instrument,  selected  by  the  friends  of  the  pre 
sent  administration,  to  carry  out  its  principles  and  policy ;  and 
that,  as  well  from  inclination  as  from  duty,  I  shall,  if  honored 
with  the  choice  of  the  American  people,  endeavor  generally  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  President  Jackson,  happy  if  I  shall  be 
able  to  perfect  the  work  which  he  has  so  gloriously  begun." 

Mr.  Van'Buren  announces  that  he  was  the  honored  instrument 
selected  by  the  friends  of  the  present  administration,  to  carry  out 
its  principles  and  policy.  The  honored  instrument !  That  word, 
according  to  the  most  approved  definition,  means  tool.  He  was, 
then,  the  honored  tool — to  do  what,  ?  to  promote  the  honor,  and 
advance  the  welfare,  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
add  to  the  glory  of  his  country  ?  No,  no ;  his  country  was  not 
in  his  thoughts.  Party,  party,  filled  the  place  in  his  bosom  which 
country  should  have  occupied.  He  was  the  honored  tool  to  car 
ry  out  the  principles  and  policy  of  Gen.  Jackson's  administration  j 
and  if  elected,  he  should,  as  well  from  inclination  as  from  duty, 
endeavor,  generally,  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  Gen.  Jackson — 
happy  if  he  should  be  able  to  perfect  the  work  which  he  had  so 
gloriously  begun.  Duty  to  whom  ?  to  the  country,  to  the  whole 
people  of  the  United  States?  No  such  thing;  but  duty  to  the 
Friends  of  the  then  administration ;  and  that  duty  required  him. 
to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  his  illustrious  predecessor,  and  to  per 
fect  the  work  which  he  had  begun !  Now,  the  Senate  will  bear 
in  mind  that  the  most  distinguishing  features  of  Gen.  Jackson's 
administration  related  to  the  currency ;  that  he  had  denounced 
the  banking  institutions  of  the  country ;  that  he  had  overthrown 
the  bank  of  the  United  States  ;  that  he  had  declared,  when  that 
object  was  accomplished,  only  one  half  the  work  was  completed ; 
that  he  then  commenced  a  war  against  the  state  banks,  in  order 
to  finish  the  other  half;  that  he  constantly  persevered  in,  and 
never  abandoned,  his  favorite  project  of  a  great  government 
treasury  bank ;  and  that  he  retired  from  the  office  of  Chief  Mag 
istrate,  pouring  out,  in  his  farewell  address,  anathemas  against 
paper  money,  corporations,  and  the  spirit  of  monopoly.  When 
all  these  things  are  recollected,  it  is  impossible  not  to  comprehend 
clearly  what  Mr.  Van  Buren  means,  by  carrying  out  the  princi 
ples  and  policy  of  the  late  administration.  No  one  can  mistake 
that  those  principles  and  that  policy  require  him  to  break  down 
the  local  institutions  of  the  states,  and  to  discredit  and  destroy 
the  paper  medium  which  they  issue.  No  one  can  be  at  a  loss  to 
understand  that,  in  following  in  the  footsteps  of  President  Jack- 
ion,  and  in  perfecting  the  work  which  he  begun,  Mr.  Van  Buren 
paeans  to  continue  attacking.,  systematically,  the  banks  of  the 
states,  and  to  erect  on  their  ruins  that  great  government  bank. 


340  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

begun  by  his  predecessor,  and  which  he  is  the  honored  instru 
ment  selected  to  complete.  The  next  proof'which  IWiall  offer 
is  supplied  by  Mr.  Van  Buren's  inaugural  address,  from  which 
I  request  permission  of  the  Senate  to  read  the  following  ex 
tract: 

"  In  receiving  from  the  people  the  sacred  trust  twice  confided 
to  my  illustrious  predecessor,  and  which  he  has  discharged  so 
faithfully  and  so  well,  I  know  that  I  cannot  expect  to  perform  the 
arduous  task  with  equal  ability  and  success.  But,  united  as  I 
have  been  in  his  counsels,  a  daily  witness  of  his  exclusive  and 
unsurpassed  devotion  to  his  country's  welfare,  agreeing  with  him 
in  sentiments  which  his  countrymen  have  warmly  supported,  and 
permitted  to  partake  largely  of  his  confidence,  I  may  hope  that 
somewhat  of  the  same  cheering  approbation  will  be  found  to  at 
tend  upon  my  path  ?" 

Here  we  find  Mr.  Van  Buren  distinctly  avowing,  what  the 
American,  people  well  knew  before,  that  he  had  been  united  in 
the  councils  of  Gen.  Jackson ;  that  he  had  agreed  with  him  in 
sentiments,  and  that  he  had  partaken  largely  of  his  confidence. 
This  intimacy  and  confidential  intercourse  could  not  have  exist 
ed  without  the  concurrence  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  all  those  lead 
ing  and  prominent  measures  of  his  friend,  which  related  to  the 
establishment  of  a  government  bank,  the  overthrow  of  the  bank 
of  the  United  States,  the  attack  upon  the  state  institutions,  and 
the  denunciation  of  the  paper  currency,  the  spirit  of  monopoly, 
and  corporations.  Is  it  credible  that  General  Jackson  should 
have  aimed  at  the  accomplishment  of  all  those  objects,  and  en 
tertained  all  these  sentiments,  without  Mr.  Van  Buren's  partici 
pation  ? 

I  proceed  to  another  point  of  powerful  evidence,  in  the  con 
duct  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  respect  to  the  famous  treasury  order. 
That  order  had  been  promulgated,  originally,  in  defiance  of  the 
opinion  of  Congress,  had  been  continued  in  operation  in  defiance 
of  the  wishes  and  will  of  the  people,  and  had  been  repealed  by 
a  bill  passed  at  the  last  ordinary  session  of  Congress,  by  over 
whelming  majorities.  The  fate  of  that  bill  is  well  known.  In 
stead  of  being  returned  to  the  house  in  which  it  originated,  ac 
cording  to  the  requirement  of  the  constitution,  it  was  sent  to  one 
of  the  pigeon-holes  of  the  department  of  state,  to  be  filed  away 
\vith  an  opinion  of  a  convenient  attorney  general,  always  ready 
to  prepare  one  in  support  of  executive  encroachment.  On  the 
fifth  of  March  last  not  a  doubt  was  entertained,  as  far  as  my 
knowledge  or  belief  extends,  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  would  rescind 
the  obnoxious  order.  I  appeal  to  the  Senator  from  Mic-souri. 
who  sits  near  me,  (Mr.  Linn,)  to  the  Seuator  from  Mississippi, 
who  sits  farthest  from  me,  (Mr.  Walker,)  to  the  Senator  from 
Alabama,  (Mr.  King,)  and  to  the  whole  of  the  administration 
Senators,  if  such  was  not  the  expectation  of  all  of  them.  Was 
there  ever  an  occasion  in  which  a  new  administration  had  so  fine 
an  opportunity  to  signalize  its  commencement  by  an  act  of  grace 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  341 

and  wisdom,  demanded  by  the  best  interests  and  most  anxious 
wishes  of  the  people  ?  But  Mr.  Van  Buren  did  not  think  proper 
to  embrace  it.  He  had  shared  too  largely  in  the  confidence  of 
his  predecessor,  agreed  too  fully  with  him  in  his  councils,  to  re 
scind  an  order  which  constituted  so  essential  a  part  of  the  system 
which  had  been  deliberately  adopted  to  overthrow  the"  state 
banks. 

Another  course  pursued  by  the  administration,  after  the  catas 
trophe  of  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks,  de 
monstrates  the  hostile  purposes  towards  them  of  the  present  ad 
ministration.     When  a  similar  event  had  occurred  during  the 
administration  of  Mr.  Madison,  did  he  discredit  and  disco'unte- 
nance  the  issues  of  the  banks,  by  refusing  to  receive  them  in 
payment  of  the  public  dues?     Did  the  state  governments,  upon 
the  former  or  the  late  occasion,  refuse  to  receive  them  in  pay 
ment  of  the  dues  to  them,  respectively  ?     And  if  irredeemable 
bank  notes  are  good  enough  for  state  governments  and  the  peo 
ple,  are  they  not  good  enough  for  the  federal  government  of  the 
same  people  ?    By  exacting  specie,  in  all  payments  to  the  gene 
ral  government,  that  government  presented  itself  in  the  market 
as  a  powerful  and  formidable  competitor  with  the  banks,  demand 
ing  specie  at  a  moment  when  the  banks  were  making  unexam 
pled  struggles  to  strengthen  themselves,  and  prepare  for  the  re 
sumption  of  specie  payments.     The  extent  of  this  government 
demand  for  specie  does  not  admit  of  exact  ascertainment ;  but 
when  we  reflect  that  the  annual  expenditures  of  the  government 
were  at  the  rate,  including  the  post-office  department,  of  about 
thirty-three  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  its  income,  made  up  ei 
ther  of  taxes  or  loans,  must  be  an  equal  sum,  making  together 
an  aggregate  of  sixty-six  millions,  it  will  be  seen  that  the.  amount 
of  specie  required  for  the  use  of  government  must  be  immensely 
large.     It  cannot  be  precisely  determined,  but  would  not  be  less 
probably  than  fifteen  or  twenty  millions  of  dollars  per  annum. — 
Now,  how  is  it  possible  lor  the  banks,  coming  into  the  specie 
market  in  competition  with  all  the  vast  power  and  influence  of 
the  government,  to  provide  themselves  with  specie  in  a  reasona 
ble  time  to  resume  specie  payments  ?     That  competition  would 
have  been  avoided,  itj  upon  the  stoppage  of  the  banks,  the  notes 
of  those   of  whose    solidity   there   was   no    doubt,    had  been 
continued  to  be  received  in  payment  of  the  public  dues,  as  was 
done  in  Mr.  Madison's  administration.  And  why,  Mr.  President, 
should  they  not  have  been?     Why  should  nofthis  government 
receive  the  same  description  of  medium  which  is  found  to  answer 
all  the  purposes  of  the  several  state  governments?     Why  should 
they  have  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  issuing  an  inferior  paper 
medium,  in  the  form  of  treasury  notes,  and  refusing  to  receive 
the  better  notes  of  safe  and  solid  banks  ?    Do  not  misunderstand 
me,  Mr.  President.    No  man  is  more  averse  than  I  am  to  a  per 
manent  inconvertible  paper  medium.    It  would  have  been  as  a 
29* 


342  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

temporary  measure  only  that  I  should  have  thought  it  expedient 
to  receive  the  notes  of  good  local  banks.  If,  along  with  that 
measure,  the  treasury  order  had  been  repealed,  and  other  meas 
ures  adopted  to  encourage  and  coerce  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments,  we  should  have  been  much  nigher  that  desirable  event 
than,  I  fear,  we  now  are.  Indeed,  I  do  not  see  when  it  is  possi 
ble  for  the  banks  to  resume  specie  payments,  as  long  as  the  go 
vernment  is  in  the  field  making  war  upon  them,  and  in  the  mar 
ket  demanding  specie. 

Another  conclusive  evidence  of  the  hostility  to  the  state  banks, 
on  the  part  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  is  to  be  found  in  that  extraordi 
nary  recommendation  of  a  bankrupt  law,  contained  in  his  mes 
sage  at  the  extra  session.  According  to  all  the  principles  of  any 
bankrupt  system  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  me  banks,  by  th'e 
stoppage  ol  specie  payments,  had  rendered  themselves  liable  to  its 
operation.  If  the  recommended  law  had  been  passed,  commissions 
of  bankruptcy  could  have  been  immediately  sued  out  against 
all  the  suspended  banks,  their  assets  seized,  and  the  administra 
tion  of  them  transferred  from  the  several  corporations  to  which 
it  is  now  entrusted,  to  commissioners  appointed  by  the  President 
himself.  Thus,  by  one  blow,  would  the  whole  of  the  state  banks 
have  been  completely  prostrated,  and  the  way  cleared  for  the  in 
troduction  of  the  favorite  treasury  bank  ;  and  is  it  not  in  the  same 
spirit  of  unfriendliness  to  those  banks,  and  with  the  same  view 
of  removing  all  obstacles  to  the  establishment  of  a  government 
bank,  that  the  bill  was  presented  to  the  Senate  a  few  days  ago 
by  the  Senator  from  Tennessee  (Mr.  Grundy)  against  the  circu 
lation  of  the  notes  of  the  old  bank  of  the  United  States?  At  a 
time  when  there  is  too  much  want  of  confidence,  and  when  every 
thing  that  can  be  done  should  be  done  to  revive  and  strengthen 
it,  we  are  called  upon  to  pass  a  law  denouncing  the  heaviest 
penalty  and  ignominious  punishment  against  all  who  shall  reissue 
the  notes  of  the  old  bank  of  the  United  States,  of  which  we  are  told 
that  about  seven  millions  of  dollars  are  in  circulation ;  and  they 
constitute  the  best  portion  of  the  paper  medium  of  the  country ; 
the  only  portion  of  it  which  has  a  credit  everywhere,  and  which 
serves  the  purpose  of  a  general  circulation ;  the  only  portion  with 
which  a  man  can  travel  from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  oth 
er  ;  and  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  Senator  who  has  fulminated  those 
severe  pains  and  penalties  against  that  best  part  of  our  paper 
medium,  provides  himself  with  a  sufficient  amount  of  it,  whenever 
he  leaves  Nashville,  to  take  him  to  Washington.  [Here  Mr. 
Grundy  rose,  and  remarked:  No,  sir;  I  always  travel  on  specie.] 
Ah !  continued  Mr.  Clay,  my  old  friend  is  always  specious.  I  am 
quite  sure  that  members  from  a  distance  in  the  interior  generally 
find  it  indispensable  to  supply  themselves,  on  commencing  their 
journey,  with  an  adequate  amount  of  these  identical  notes  to  de 
fray  i1,s  expenses.  Why,  sir,  will  any  man  in  his  senses  deny 
that  these  notes  are  far  better  than  those  which  have  been  issued 
jy  that  government  banker,  Mr.  Levi  Woodbury,  aided  though 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  343 

he  be  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  (I  beg  his  pardon,  I 
mean  the  ex-Chancellor,)  the  Senator  from  New- York,  (Mr. 
Wright  ?)  I  am  not  going  to  stop  here  to  inquire  into  the  strict 
legality  of  the  re-issue  of  these  notes ;  that  question,  together 
with  the  power  of  the  government  to  pass  the  proposed  bill,  will 
be  taken  up  when  it  is  considered.  I  am  looking  into  the  motive 
of  such  a  measure.  Nobody  doubts  the  perfect  safety  of  the 
notes ;  no  one  can  believe  that  they  will  not  be  fairly  and  fully 
paid.  What,  then,  is  the  design  of  the  bill  ?  It  is  to  assail  the 
only  sure  general  medium  which  the  people  possess.  It  is  be 
cause  it  may  come  in  competition  with  treasury  notes,  or  other 
government  "paper.  Sir,  if  the  bill  had  not  been  proposed  by  my 
old  friend  from  Tennessee,  I  would  say  its  author  better  deserv 
ed  a  penitentiary  punishment  than  those  against  whom  it  is  di 
rected.  I  remember  to  have  heard  of  an  illustrious  individual, 
now  in  retirement,  having,  on  some  occasion,  burst  out  into  the 
most  patriotic  indignation,  because  of  a  waggish  trick  played  oft' 
upon  him,  by  putting  a  note  of  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States 
into  his  silk  purse  with  his  gold. 

But  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  longer  on  the  innumerable  proofs 
of  the  hostility  against  the  state  banks,  and  the  deliberate  pur 
pose  of  those  in  power  to  overthrow  them.  We  hear  and  see 
daily  throughout  the  country  among  their  partisans  and  presses, 
denunciations  against  banks,  corporations, 'rag  barons,  the  spirit 
of  monopoly,  &c.;  and  the  howl  for  gold,  hard  money  and  the 
constitutional  currency ;  and  no  one  can  listen  to  the  speeches  of 
honorable  members,  friends  Csf  the  administration,  in  this  house 
and  the  other,  without  being  impressed  with  a  perfect  conviction 
that  the  destruction  of  the  state  banks  is  meditated. 

I  have  fulfilled  my  promise,  Mr.  President,  to  sustain  the  first 
four  propositions  with  which  I  set  out.  I  now  proceed  to  the  fifth 
proposition. 

5.  That  the  bill  under  consideration  is  intended  to  execute  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  pledge  to  complete  and  perfect  the  principles,  plane 
and  policy,  of  the  past  administration,  by  establishing  upon  the 
ruins  of  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States,  and  the  state  banks, 
a  government  bank,  to  be  managed  and  controlled  by  the  treas 
ury  department,  acting  under  the  commands  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States. 

The  first  impression  made  by  the  perusal  of  the  bill  is  the 
prodigal  and  boundless  discretion  which  it  grants  to  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  irreconcilable  with  the  genius  of  our  free 
institutions,  and  contrary  to  the  former  cautious  practice  of  the 
government.  As  originally  reported,  he  was  authorised  by  the 
bill  to  allow  any  number  of  clerks  he  thought  proper  to  the  va 
rious  Receivers  General,  and  to  fix  their  salaries.  It  will  be 
borne  in  mind  that  this  is  the  mere  commencement  of  a  sy- stem ; 
and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that,  if  put  into  operation,  the  number 
of  Receivers  General  and  other  depositaries  of  the  public  money 
would  be  indefinitely  multiplied.  He  is  allowed  to  appoint  aa 


344  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

many  examiners  of  the  public  money,  and  to  fix  their  salaries, 
as  he  pleases  j  he  is  allowed  to  erect  at  pleasure  costly  buildings  ; 
there  is  no  estimate  for  any  thing ;  and  all  who  are  conversant 
with  the  operations  of  the  executive  branch  of  the  government, 
know  the  value  and  importance  of  previous  estimates.  There  is 
no  other  check  upon  wasteful  expenditure  but  previous  estimates, 
and  that  was  a  point  always  particularly  insisted  upon  by  Mr. 
Jefferson.  The  Senate  will  recollect  that,  a  few  days  ago,  when 
the  salary  of  the  Receiver  General  at  New-York  was  fixed,  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  finance  rose  in  his  place  and  stated 
that  it  was  suggested  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  it 
should  be  placed  at  $3,000;  and  the  blank  was  accordingly  so 
filled.  There  was  no  statement  of  the  nature  ar  extent  of  the 
duties  to  be  performed,  of  the  time  that  he  would  be  occupied,  of 
the  extent  of  his  responsibility,  or  the  expense  of  living  at  the 
several  points  where  they  were  to  be  located;  nothing~but  the 
suggestion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  that  was  deem 
ed  all-sufficient  by  a  majority.  There  is  no  limit  upon  the  ap 
propriation  which  is  made  to  carry  into  effect  the  bill,  contrary 
to  all  former  usage,  which  invariably  prescribed  a  sum  not  to  be 
transcended. 

A  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  bill  is  that  to  which  I  have 
already  called  the  attention  of  the  Senate,  and  of  which  no  sat 
isfactory  explanation  has  been  given.  It  is  that  which  proceeds 
upon  the  idea  that  the  treasury  is  a  thing  distinct  from  the  trea 
sure  of  the  United  States,  and  gives  to  the  treasury  a  local  habi 
tation  and  a  name,  in  the  new  building  which  is  being  erected 
for  the  treasury  department  in  the  city  of  Washington.  In  the 
treasury,  so  constituted,  is  to  be  placed  that  pittance  of  the  pub 
lic  revenue  which  is  gleaned  from  the  District  of  Columbia.  All 
else,  that  is  to  say,  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  hundredths  of 
the  public  revenue  of  the  United  States  is  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Receivers  General,  and  the  other  depositaries  be 
yond  the  District  of  Columbia.  Now,  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  provides  that  no  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the 
public  treasury  but  in  virtue  of  a  previous  appropriation  by  law. 
That  trifling  portion  of  it,  therefore,  which  is  within  the  District 
of  Columbia,  will  be  under  the  safeguard  of  the  constitution,  and 
all  else  will  be  at  the  arbitrary  disposal  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury. 

It  was  deemed  necessary,  no  doubt,  to  vest  in  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  this  vast  and  alarming  discretionary  power.  A 
new  and  immense  government  bank  is  about  to  be  erected.  How 
it  would  work  in  all  its  parts  could  not  be  anticipated  with  cer 
tainty  ;  and  it  was  thought  proper,  therefore,  to  bestow  a  discre 
tion  commensurate  with  its  novelty  and  complexity,  and  adapted 
to  any  exigencies  which  might  arise.  The  tenth  section  01  the 
bill  is  that  in  which  the  power  to  create  a  bank  is  more  particu 
larly  conferred.  It  is  short,  and  I  will  read  it  to  the  Senate. 

"  SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  345 

for  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  transfer  the  moneys  in  the 
hands  of  any  depositary  hereby  constituted,  to  the  treasury  of 
the  United  States ;  to  the  mint  at  Philadelphia ;  to  the  branch 
mint  at  New- Orleans;  or  to  the  offices  of  either  of  the  Receivers 
General  of  public  moneys,  by  this  act  directed  to  be  appointed ; 
to  be  there  safely  kept,  according  to  the  provisions  of  this  act ; 
and  also  to  transfer  moneys  in  the  hands  of  any  one  depositary, 
constituted  by  this  act,  to  any  other  depositary  constituted  by  the 
same,  AT  HIS  DISCRETION,  and  as  the  safety  of  the  public  moneys, 
and  the  convenience  of  the  public  service,  shall  seem  to  him  to 
require.  And,  for  the  purpose  of  payments  on  the  public  ac 
count,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  said  Secretary  to  draw  upon  any 
of  the  said  depositaries,  as  he  may  think  most  conducive  to  the 
jmblic  interests,  or  to  the  convenience  of  the  public  creditors, 
or  both." 

It  will  be  seen  that  it  grants  a  power,  perfectly  undefined,  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  shift  and  transfer  the  public 
money,  from  depositary  to  depositary,  as  he  pleases.  He  is 
expressly  authorized  to  transfer  moneys  in  the  hands  of  any  one 
depositary,  constituted  by  the  act,  to  any  ether  depositary  con 
stituted  by  it,  at  his  discretion,  and  as  the  safety  of  the  public 
moneys.,  and  the  convenience  of  the  public  service,  shall  seem  to 
him  to  require.  There  is  no  specification  of  any  contingency  or 
contingencies  on  which  he  is  to  act.  All  is  left  to  his  discretion. 
He  is  to  judge  when  the  public  service  (and  more  indefinite 
terms  could  not  have  been  employed)  shall  seem  to  him  to  re 
quire  it.  It  has  been  said  that  this  is  nothing  more  than  the 
customary  power  of  transfer,  exercised  by  the  treasury  depart 
ment,  from  the  origin  of  the  government.  I  deny  it,  utterly  deny 
it.  It  is  a  totally  different  power  from  that  which  was  exercised 
by  the  cautious  Gallatin,  and  other  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury — 
a  power,  by  the  by,  which,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  has  been 
controverted,  and  which  is  infinitely  more  questionable  than  the 
power  to  establish  a  bank  of  the  United  States.  The  transfer 
was  made  by  them  rarely,  in  large  sums,  and  were  left  to  the 
banks  to  remit.  When  payments  were  made  they  were  effected 
in  the  notes  of  banks  with  which  the  public  money  was  deposited, 
or  to  which  it  was  transferred.  The  rates  of  exchange  were 
regulated  by  the  state  of  the  market,  and  under  the  responsi 
bility  of  the  banks.  But  here  is  a  power  given  to  transfer  the 
public  moneys,  without  limit  as  to  sum,  place  or  time,  leaving 
every  tiling  to  the  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
the  Receivers  General,  and  other  depositarie's.  What  a  scope 
is  allowed  in  the  fixation  of  the  rates  of  exchange,  whether  of 
premium  or  discount,  to  regulate  the  whole  domestic  exchanges 
of  the  country,  to  exercise  favoritism!  These  former  transfers 
were  not  made  for  disbursement,  but  as  preparatory  to  disburse 
ment  ;  and,  when  disbursed,  it  was  generally  in  bank  notes. — 
The  transfers  of  this  bill  are  immediate  payments,  and  pay 
ments  made,  not  in  bank  notes,  but  in  specie. 


346  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

The  last  paragraph  in  the  section  provides  that,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  payments  on  the  public  account,  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
the  Sectetary  to  draw  upon  any  of  the  said  depositaries,  as  he 
nay  think  most  conducive  to  the  public  interest^  or  to  the  con 
venience  of  the  public  creditors,  or  both.  It  will  be  seen  that 
.10  limit  whatever  is  imposed  upon  the  amount  or  form  of  the 
draft,  or  as  to  the  depositary  upon  which  it  is  drawn.  He  is 
made  the  exclusive  judge  of  what  is  "most  conducive  to  the 
public  interests."  Now  let  us  pause  a  moment,  and  trace  the 
operation  of  the  powers  thus  vested.  The  government  has  a 
revenue  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  millions.  The  Secretary  may 
draw  it  to  any  one  or  more  points,  as  he  pleases.  More  than  a 
moiety  of  the  revenue  arising  from  customs  is  receivable  at  the 
port  of  New- York,  to  which  point  the  Secretary  may  draw  all 
portions  of  it,  if  he  thinks  it  conducive  to  the  public  interest. 
A  man  has  to  receive,  under  an  appropriation  law,  $10,000,  and 
applies  to  Mr.  Secretary  for  payment.  Where  will  you  receive 
it?  he  is  asked.  On  New-York.  How?  In  drafts  from  $5  to 
$500.  Mr.  Secretary  will  give  him  these  drafts  accordingly, 
upon  bank  note  paper,  impressed  like  and  simulating  bank  notes, 
having  all  suitable  emblazonry,  signed  by  my  friend  the  Treasu 
rer,  (whose  excellent  practical  sense,  and  solid  and  sound  judg 
ment,  if  he  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  treasury,  instead  of  Mr. 
Levi  Woodbury,  when  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  took 
place,  would  have  relieved  or  mitigated  the  pecuniary  embar 
rassments  of  the  government  and  the  people,)  and  counter 
signed  by  the  Comptroller,  and  filled  up  in  the  usual  way  of 
bank  notes.  Here  is  one  of  them,  said  Mr.  Clay.  [He  here 
held  up  to  the  gaze  of  the  Senate  a  treasury  note,  having  all 
the  appearance  of  a  bank  note,  colored,  engraved,  and  executed 
like  any  other  bank  note,  for  $50.]  This,  continued  Mr.  Clay, 
is  a  government  post  note,  put  into  circulation,  paid  out  as 
money,  and  prepared  and  sent  forth,  gradually  to  accustom  the 
people  of  this  country  to  government  paper. 

I  nave  supposed  $10,000  to  be  received,  in  the  mode  stated, 
by  a  person  entitled  to  receive  it  under  an  appropriation  law. 
Now,  let  us  suppose  what  he  will  do  with  it.  Anywhere  to  the 
south  or  west  it  will  command  a  premium  of  from  two  to  five 
per  cent.  No  where  in  the  United  States  will  it  be  under  par. 
Do  you  suppose  that  the  holder  of  these  drafts  would  be  fool 
enough  to  convert  them  into  specie,  to  be  carried  and  transported 
at  his  risk?  Do  you  think  that  he  would  not  prefer  that  this 
money  should  be  in  the  responsible  custody  of  the  government, 
rather  than  in  his  own  insecure  keeping?  Do  you  think  that  he 
will  deny  to  himself  the  opportunity  of  realizing  the  premium 
of  which  he  may  be  perfectly  sure  ?  The  greatest  want  of  the 
country  is  a  medium  of  general  circulation,  and  of  uniform  value 
every  where.  That,  especially,  is  our  want  in  the  western  and 
interior  states.  Now,  here  is  exactly  such  a  medium ;  and,  sup 
posing  the  government  bank  to  be  honestly  and  faithfully  ad- 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  347 

ministered,  it  will,  during  such  an  administration,  be  the  beet 
convertible  paper  money  in  the  world,  for  two  reasons.  The 
first  is,  that  every  dollar  of  paper  out  will  be  the  representative 
of  a  dollar  of  specie  in  the  hands  of  the  Receivers  General,  or 
other  depositaries;  and,  secondly,  if  the  Receivers  General 
should  embezzle  the  peblic  money,  the  responsibility  of  the  gov 
ernment  to  pay  the  drafts  issued  upon  the  basis  of  that  money 
would  remain  unimpaired.  The  paper,  therefore,  would  be  as 
far  superior  to  the  paper  of  any  private  corporation  as  the  ability 
and  resources  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  are  supe 
rior  to  those  of  such  corporations. 

The  banking  capacity  may  be  divided  into  three  faculties — 
tleposites,  discount  of  bills  of  exchange,  and  promissory  notes, 
or  either,  and  circulation.  This  government  bank  would  com 
bine  them  all,  except  that  it  would  not  discount  private  notes, 
nor  receive  private  deposites.  In  payments  for  the  public  lands, 
indeed,  individuals  are  allowed  to  make  deposites,  and  to  receive 
certificates  of  their  amount.  To  guard  against  their  negotiability, 
a  clause  has  been  introduced  to  render  them  unassignable.  But 
how  will  it  be  possible  to  maintain  such  an  inconvenient  restric 
tion,  in  a  country  where  every  description  of  paper  imposing  an 
obligation  to  pay  money  or  deliver  property  is  assignable,  at 
law  or  in  equity,  from  the  commercial  nature  and  trading  charac 
ter  of  our  people  ? 

Of  all  the  faculties  which  I  have  stated  of  a  bank,  that  which 
creates  a  circulation  is  the  most  important  to  the  community  at 
large.  It  is  that  in  which  thousands  may  be  interested,  who 
never  obtained  a  discount,  or  made  a  deposite  with  a  bank. 
Whatever  a  government  agrees  to  receive  in  payment  of  the 
public  dues,  as  a  medium  of  circulation,  is  money,  current  money, 
no  matter  what  its  form  may  be,  treasury  notes1,  drafts  drawn  at 
Washington  by  the  Treasurer,  on  the  Receiver  General  at  New- 
York,  or,  to  use  the  language  employed  in  various  parts  of  this 
bill,  "  such  notes,  bills  or  paper  issued  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States."  These  various  provisions  were  probably  insert 
ed  not  only  to  cover  the  case  of  treasury  notes,  but  that  of  these 
drafts,  in  due  season.  But  if  there  were  no  express  provision 
of  law,  that  these  drafts  should  be  receivable  in  payment  of  pub 
lic  dues,  they  would,  necessarily,  be  so  employed,  from  their 
own  intrinsic  value. 

The  want  of  the  community  of  a  general  circulation  of  uni 
form  value  everywhere  in  the  United  States,  would  occasion 
vast  amounts  of  the  species  of  drafts  which  I  have  described  to 
remain  in  circulation.  The  appropriations  this  year  will  proba 
bly  fall  not  much  short  of  thirty  millions.  Thirty  millions  of 
treasury  drafts  on  Receivers  General,  of  every  denomination 
and  to  any  amount,  may  be  issued  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  What  amount  would  remain  in  circulation  cannot 
be  determined  a  priori,  I  suppose  not  less  than  ten  or  fifteen 
millions ;  at  the  end  of  another  year  some  ten  or  fifteen  millions 


348  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

more ;  they  would  fill  all  the  channels  of  circulation.  The  war 
between  the  government  and  state  banks  continuing,  and  this 
mammoth  government  bank  being  in  the  market,  constantly 
demanding  specie  for  its  varied  and  ramified  operations,  confi 
dence  would  be  lost  in  the  notes  of  the  local  banks,  their  paper 
would  gradually  cease  to  circulate,  and  the  banks  themselves 
would  be  crippled  and  broken.  The  paper  of  the  government 
bank  would  ultimately  fill  the  vacuum,  as  it  would  instantly 
occupy  the  place  of  the  notes  of  the  late  bank  of  the  United 
States. 

I  am  aware,  Mr.  President,  that  by  the  25th  section  of  the 
bill,  in  order  to  disguise  the  purpose  of  the  vast  machinery  which 
we  are  about  constructing,  it  is  provided  that  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  issue  and  publish  regula 
tions  to  enforce  the  speedy  presentation  of  all  government  drafts 
for  payments  at  the  place  where  payable,  &e.  Now,  what  a 
tremendous  power  is  here  vested  in  the  Secretary!  He  is  to 
prescribe  rules  and  regulations  to  enforce  the  speedy  presenta 
tion  of  all  government  drafts  for  payment  at  the  place  where 
payable.  The  speedy  presentation!  la  the  case  I  have  sup 
posed,  a  man  has  his  $10,000  in  drafts  on  the  Receiver  General 
at  New- York.  The  Secretary  is  empowered  to  enact  regula 
tions  requiring  him  speedily  to  present  them,  and,  if  he  do  not, 
the  Secretary  may  order  them  to  be  paid  at  St.  Louis,  At  New- 
York  they  may  be  worth  a  premium  of  five  per  cent. ;  on  St. 
Louis  they  may  be  liable  to  a  discount  of  five  per  cent.  Now, 
in  a  free  government,  who  would  ever  think  of  subjecting  the 
property  or  money  of  a  citizen  to  the  exercise  of  such  a  power 
by  any  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ?  What  opportunity  does  it  not 
afford  to  reward  a  partizan  or  punish  an  opponent  ?  It  will  be 
impossible  to  maintain  such  an  odious  and  useless  restriction  for 
any  length  of  time.  Why  should  the  debtor  (as  the  government 
would  be  in  the  case  of  such  drafts  as  I  have  supposed)  require 
his  creditor  (as  the  holder  of  the  draft  would  be)  to  apply  within 
a  prescribed  time  for  his  payment?  No,  sir;  the  system  would 
control  you ;  you  could  not  control  the  system.  But,  if  such  a 
ridiculous  restriction  could  be  so  continued,  the  drafts  would, 
nevertheless,  whilst  they  were  out,  be  the  time  long  or  short, 
perform  the  office  of  circulation  and  money. 

Let  us  trace  a  little  further  the  operation  of  this  government 
bank,  and  follow  it  out  to  its  final  explosion.  I  have  supposed 
the  appropriation  of  some  thirty  millions  of  dollars  annually  by 
the  government,  to  be  disbursed  in  the  form  of  drafts,  issued  at 
Washington  by  the  treasury  department,  upon  the  depositaries. 
Of  that  amount  some  ten  or  fifteen  millions  would  remain,  the 
first  year,  in  circulation ;  at  the  end  of  another  year,  a  similar 
amount  would  continue  in  circulation ;  and  so  on,  from  year  to 
year,  until,  at  the  end  of  a  series  of  some  five  or  six  years,  there 
would  be  in  circulation,  to  supply  the  indispensable  wants  of 
commerce  and  of  a  general  medium  of  uniform  valne,  not  less 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  349 

than  some  sixty  or  eighty  millions  of  drafts  issued  by  the  govern 
ment.  These  drafts  would  be  generally  upon  the  Receiver 
General  at  New-York,  because  on  that  point  they  would  be 
preferred  over  all  others,  as  they  would  command  a  premium, 
or  be  at  par,  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  United  States  ; 
and  we  have  seen  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  invested 
with  ample  authority  to  concentrate  at  that  point  the  whole 
revenue  of  the  United  States. 

All  experience  has  demonstrated  that  in  banking  operations  a 
much  larger  amount  of  paper  can  be  kept  out  in  circulation  than 
the  specie  which  it  is  necessary  to  retain  in  the  vaults  to  meet  it 
when  presented  for  payment.  The  proportions  which  the  same 
experience  has  ascertained  to  be  entirely  safe,  are  one  of  specie 
to  three  of  paper.  If,  therefore,  the  executive  government  had 
sixty  millions  of  dollars  accumulated  at  the  port  of  New- York, 
in  the  hands  of  the  Receiver  General,  represented  by  sixty  mil 
lions  of  government  drafts  in  circulation,  it  would  be  known  that 
twenty  of  that  sixty  millions  would  be  sufficient  to  retain  to  meet 
any  amount  of  drafts  which,  in  ordinary  times,  would  be  pre 
sented  for  payment.  There  would  then  remain  forty  millions  in 
the  vaults,  idle  and  unproductive,  and  of  which  no  practical  use 
could  be  made.  Well,  a  great  election  is  at  hand  in  the  state 
of  New-York,  the  result  of  which  will  seal  the  fate  of  an  exist 
ing  administration.  If  the  application  of  ten  millions  of  that 
dormant  capital  could  save,  at  some  future  day,  a  corrupt  execu 
tive  from  overthrow,  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  ten  millions 
would  be  applied  to  preserve  it  in  power?  Again:  let  us  sup 
pose  some  great  exigency  to  arise,  a  season  of  war,  creating 
severe  financial  pressure  and  embarrassment.  Would  not  an 
issue  of  paper,  founded  upon  and  exceeding  the  specie  in  the 
vaults,  in  some  such  proportions  as  experience  had  demonstrate;! 
might  be  safely  emitted,  be  authorized?  Finally,  the  whole, 
amount  of  specie  might  be  exhausted,  and  then,  as  it  is  easier 
to  engrave  and  issue  bank  notes  than  to  perform  the  unpopular 
office  of  imposing  taxes  and  burdens,  the  discovery  wrould  be 
made  that  the  credit  of  the  government  was  a  sufficient  basis 
\vhereupon  to  make  emissions  of  paper  money,  to  be  redeemed 
when  peace  and  prosperity  returned.  Then  we  should  have  the 
days  of  continental  money,  and  of  assignats,  restored !  Then 
we  should  have  that  government  paper  medium,  which  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina,  (Mr.  Calhoun,)  considers  the 
most  perfect  of  all  currency! 

Meantime,  and  during  the  progress  of  this  vast  government 
machine,  the  state  banks  would  be  all  prostrated.  Working 
well,  as  it  may,  if  honestly  administered,  in  the  first  period  of  its 
existence,  it  will  be  utterly  impossible  for  them  to  maintain  the 
unequal  competition.  They  could  not  maintain  it,  even  if  the 
government  were  actuated  by  no  unfriendly  feelings  towards 
them.  But,  when  we  know  the  spirit  which  animates  the  present 
30 


350  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

executive  towards  them,  who  can  doubt  that  they  must  fall  in 
the  unequal  contest?  Their  issues  will  be  discredited  and  dis 
countenanced  ;  and  that  system  of  bankruptcy  which  the  Presi 
dent  would  even  now  put  into  operation  against  them,  will,  in 
the  sequel,  be  passed  and  enforced  without  difficulty. 

Assuming  the  downfall  of  the  local  banks,  the  inevitable  con 
sequence  of  the  operations  of  this  great  government  bank ;  as 
suming,  as  I  have  shown  would  be  the  case,  that  the  government 
would  monopolize  the  paper  issues  of  the  country,"and  obtain 
the  possession  of  a  great  portion  of  the  specie  of  the  country, 
we  should  then  behold  a  combined  and  concentrated  moneyed 
power,  equal  to  that  of  all  the  existing  banks  of  the  United 
States,  with  that  of  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States  super- 
added.  This  tremendous  power  would  be  wielded  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  acting  under  the  immediate  commands 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Here  would  be  a  perfect 
union  of  the  sword  and  the  purse;  here  would  be  no  imaginary, 
but  an  actual,  visible,  tangible,  consolidation  of  the  moneyed 
power.  Who  or  what  could  withstand  it?  The  states  them 
selves  would  become  suppliants  at  the  feet  of  the  executive  for 
a  portion  of  those  paper  emissions,  of  the  power  to  issue  which 
i  hey  had  been  stripped,  and  which  he  now  exclusively  possessed. 

Mr.  President,  my  observation  and  experience  have  satisfied 
me  that  the  safety  of  liberty  and  prosperity  consists  in  the  di 
vision  of  power,  whether  political  or  pecuniary.  In  our  federa 
tive  system,  our  security  is  to  be  found  in  that  happy  distribu 
tion  of  power  which  exists  between  the  federal  government  and 
the  state  governments.  In  our  monetary  system,  as  it  lately 
existed,  its  excellence  resulted  from  that  beautiful  arrangement 
by  which  the  states  had  their  institutions  for  local  purposes,  and 
the  general  government  its  institution  for  the  more  general  pur 
poses  of  the  whole  Union.  There  existed  the  greatest  conge 
niality  between  all  the  parts  of  this  admirable  system.  All  was 
homogeneous.  There  was  no  separation  of  the  federal  govern 
ment  from  the  states,  or  from  the  people.  There  was  no  attempt 
to  execute  practically  that,  absurdity  of  sustaining,  among  the 
same  people,  two  different  currencies  of  unequal  value.  And 
how  admirably  did  the  whole  system,  during  the  forty  years  of 
its  existence,  move  and  work!  And,  on  ihe  two  unfortunate 
occasions  of  its  ceasing  to  exist,  how  quickly  did  the  business 
and  transactions  of  the  country  run  into  wild  disorder,  and  utter 
confusion. 

Hitherto,  I  have  considered  this  new  project  as  it  is,  according 
to  its  true  nature  and  character,  and  what 'it  must  inevitably  be 
come.  I  have  not  examined  it  as  it  is  not,  but  as  its  friends 
would  represent  it  to  be.  They  hold  out  the  idea  that  it  is  a 
simple  contrivance  to  collect,  to 'keep  and  to  disburse  the  public 
revenue.  In  that  view  of  it,  every  consideration  of  safety  and 
security  recommends  the  agency  of  responsible  corporations, 
rather  than  the  employment  of  particular  individuals.  It  haa 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  351 

been  shown,  during  the  course  of  this  debate,  that  the  amount 
which  has  been  lost  by  the  defalcation  of  individuals  has  ex 
ceeded  three  or  four  times  the  amount  of  all  that  has  been  lost 
by  the  local  banks,  although  the  sums  confided  to  the  care  of  indi 
viduals  have  not  been  probably  one-tenth  part  of  the  amount 
that  has  been  in  the  custody  of  the  local  banks.  And  we  all 
know  that,  during  the  forty  years  of  the  existence  of  the  two 
banks  of  the  United  States,  not  one  cent  was  lost  of  the  public 
revenue. 

I  have  been  curious,  Mr.  President,  to  know  whence  this  idea 
of  Receivers  General  was  derived.  It  has  been  supposed  to 
have  been  borrowed  from  France.  It  required  all  the  power 
of  that  most  extraordinary  man  that  ever  lived,  Napoleon  Bona 
parte,  when  he  was  in  his  meridian  greatness,  to  displace  the 
Farmers  General,  and  to  substitute  in  their  place  the  Receivers 
General.  The  new  system  requires,  I  think  I  have  heard  it 
stated,  something  like  100,000  employees  to  have  it  executed. 
And,  notwithstanding  the  modesty  of  the  infant  promises  of  this 
new  project,  I  .have  Tio  doubt  that  ultimately  we  shall  have  to 
employ  a  number  of  persons  approximating  to  that  which  is 
retained  in  France.  That  will  undoubtedly  be  the  case  when 
ever  we  shall  revive  the  system  of  internal  taxation.  In  France, 
what  reconciled  them  to  the  system  was,  that  Napoleon  first, 
and  the  Bourbons  afterwards,  were  pleased  with  the  immense 
patronage  which  it  gave  them.  They  liked  to  have  100,000  de 
pendents  to  add  strength  to  the  throne,  which  had  been  recently 
constructed  or  re-ascended. 

I  thought,  however,  that  the  learned  chairman  of  the  commit 
tee  on  finance  must  have  had  some  other  besides  the  French 
model  for  his  receivers  general ;  and  accordingly,  upon  looking 
into  Smith's  history  of  his  own  state,  I  found  that,  when  it  was 
yet  a  colony  some  century  and  a  half  ago.  and  when  its  present 
noble  capital  still  retained  the  name  of  New  Amsterdam,  the 
historian  says :  "  Among  the  principal  laws  enacted  at  this  ses 
sion,  we  may  mention  that  for  establishing  the  revenue,  which 
was  drawn  into  precedent.  The  sums  raised  by  it  were  made 
payable  into  the  hands  of  receivers  general,  and  issued  by  the 
governor's  warrant.  By  this  means  the  governor  became,  for  a 
season,  independent  of  the  people,  and  hence  we  find  frequent 
instances  of  the  assemblies  contending  with  him  for  the  dis 
charge  of  debts  to  private  persons  contracted  on  the  faith  of  the 
government."  The  then  governor  of  the  colony  was  a  man  of 
great  violence  of  temper,  and  arbitrary  in  his  conduct.  How 
the  sub-treasury  system  of  that  day  operated,  the  same  historian 
informs  us  in  a  subsequent  part  of  his  work.  "  The  revenue." 
he  says,  "  established  the  last  year,  was  at  this  session  continued 
five  years  longer  than  was  originally  intended.  This  was  ren 
dering  the  governor  independent  of  the  people.  For,  at  that 
day,  the  assembly  had  no  treasure,  but  the  amount  of  all  taxes 
went,  of  course,  into  the  hands  of  the  receiver  general,  who  was 


352  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

appointed  by  the  crown.  Out  of  this  fund,  moneys  were  only 
issuable  by  the  governor's  warrant,  so  that  every  officer  in  the 
government,  from  Mr.  Blaithwait,  who  drew  annually  five  per 
cent,  out  of  the  revenue,  as  auditor  general,  down  to  the  meanest 
servant  of  the  public,  became  dependent,  solely,  on  the  governor. 
And  hence  we  find  the  house,  at  the  close  of  every  session, 
humbly  addressing  his  excellency  for  the  trifling  wages  of  their 
own  clerk."  And,  Mr.  President,  if  this  measure  should  unhap 
pily  pass,  the  day  may  come  when  the  senate  of  the  United 
States  will  have  humbly  to  implore  some  future  President  of  the 
United  States  to  grant  it  money  to  pay  the  wages  of  its  own 
sergeant-at-arms  and  doorkeeper. 

Who,  Mr.  President,  are  the  most  conspicuous  of  those  who 
perseveringly  pressed  this  bill,  upon  Congress  and  the  American 
people  ?  Its  drawer  is  the  distinguished  gentleman  in  the  white 
house  not  far  off;  its  endorser  is  the  distinguished  senator  from 
South  Carolina,  here  present.  What  the  drawer  thinks  of  the 
endorser,  his  cautious  reserve  and  stifled  enmity  prevent  us  from 
knowing.  But  the  frankness  of  the  endorser  has  not  left  us  in 
the  same  ignorance  with  respect  to  his  opinion  of  the  drawer. 
He  has  often  expressed  it  upon  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  On  an 
occasion  not  very  distant,  denying  him  any  of  the  nobler  qualities 
of  the  royal  beast  of  the  forest,  he  attributed  to  him  those  which 
belong  to  the  most  crafty,  most  skulking,  and  one  of  the  meanest 
of  the  quadruped  tribe.  Mr.  President,  it  is  due  to  myself  to 
say  that  I  do  not  altogether  share  with  the  senator  from  South 
Carolina  in  this  opinion  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
I  have  always  found  him,  in  his  manners  and  deportment,  civil, 
courteous,  and  gentlemanly;  and  he  dispenses,  in  the  noble 
mansion  which  he  now  occupies,  one  worthy  the  residence  of  the 
chief  magistrate  of  a  great  people,  a  generous  and  liberal  hospi 
tality.  An  acquaintance  with  him  of  more  than  twenty  years' 
duration  has  inspired  me  with  a  respect  for  the  man,  although,  J 
regret  to  be  compelled  to  say,  I  detest  the  magistrate. 

The  eloquent  senator  from  South  Carolina  has  intimated  that 
the  course  of  my  friends  and  myself,  in  opposing  this  bill,  was 
unpatriotic,  and  that  we  ought  to  have  followed  in  his  lead;  and, 
in  a  late  letter  of  his,  he  has  spoken  of  his  alliance  with  us,  and 
of  his  motives  for  quitting  it.  I  cannot  admit  the  justice  of  his 
reproach.  We  united,  if  indeed,  there  were  any  alliance  in  the 
case,  to  restrain  the  enormous  expansion  of  executive  power;  to. 
arrest  the  progress  of  corruption ;  to  rebuke  usurpation  ;  and  to 
drive  the  Goths  and  Vandals  from  the  capital;  to  expel  Brennua 
and  his  horde  from  Rome,  who,  when  he  threw  his  sword  into 
the  scale,  to  augment  the  ransom  demanded  from  the  mistress 
of  the  world,  showed  his  preference  for  gold ;  that  he  was  a 
hard  money  chieftain.  It  was  by  the  much  more  valuable  metal 
of  iron  that  he  was  driven  from  her  gates.  And  how  often  have 
we  witnessed  the  senator  from  South  Carolina,  with  woful  coun- 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  353 

tenance,  and  in  doleful   strains,  pouring    forth  touching  and 
mournful  eloquence  on  the  degeneracy  of  the   times,  and  the 
downward  tendency  of  the  republic  ?     Day  after  day,  in  the 
Senate,  have  we  seen  the  displays  of  his  lofty  and  impassioned 
eloquence.     Although  I  shared  largely  with  the  senator  in  his 
apprehension  for  the  purity  of  our  institutions,  and  the  perman 
ency  of  our  civil  liberty,  disposed  always  to  look  ot  the  "brighter 
side  of  human  affairs^  I  was  sometimes  inclined  to  hope  that  the 
vivid  imagination  of  the  senator  had  depicted  the  dangers  by 
which  we  were  encompassed  in  somewhat  stronger  colors  than 
they  justified.     The  arduous  contest  in  which  we  were  so  long 
engaged  was  about  to  terminate  in  a  glorious  victory.     The  very 
object  for  which  the  alliance  was  formed  was  about  to  be  accom 
plished.     At  this  critical  moment  the  senator  left  us;  he  left  us 
for  the  very  purpose  of  preventing  the  success  of  the  common 
cause.     He  took  up  his.  musket,  knapsack,  and  shot-pouch,  and 
joined  the  other  party.     He  went,  horse,  foot,  and  dragoon,  and 
he  himself  composed  the  whole  corps.     He  went,  as  hfs  present 
most  distinguished  ally  commenced  with  his  expunging  resolu 
tion,  solitary  and  alone.     The  earliest  instance  recorded  in  his 
tory,  within  my  recollection,  of  an  ally  drawing  off  his  forces 
from  the^combined  army,  was  that  of  Achilles  at  the  seige  of 
Troy.     He  withdrew,  with  all  his  troops,  and  remained  in  the 
neighborhood,  in  sullen  and  dignified  inactivity.     But  he  did  not 
join  the  Trojan  forces ;  and  when,  during  the  progress  of  the 
seige,  his  faithful  friend  fell  in  battle,  he  raised  his  avenging 
arm,  drove  the  Trojans  back  into  the  gates  of  Troy,  and  satia? 
ed  his  vengeance  by  slaying  Priam's  noblest  and  dearest  son, 
the  finest  hero  in  the  immortal  Illiad.     But  Achilles  had  been 
wronged,  or  imagined  himself  wronged  in  the  person  of  the  fair 
and  beautiful  Briseis.     We  did  no  wrong  to  the  distinguished 
senator  from   South  Carolina.     On  the  contrary,  we  respected 
him,  confided  in  his  great  and  acknowledged  ability,  his  uncom 
mon  genius,  his  extensive  experience,  his  supposed  patriotism ; 
above  all.  we  confided  in  his  stern  and  inflexible  fidelity.    Never 
theless,  he  left  us,  and  joined  our  common  opponents,  distrusting 
and  distrusted.     He  left  us,  as  he  tells  us  in  the  Edgefield  letter, 
because  the  victory  which  our  common  arms  were  about  to 
achieve,  was  not  to  enure  to  him  and  his  party,  but  exclusively  to 
the  benefit  of  his  allies  and  their  cause.    I  thought  that,  actuated 
by  patriotism — that   noblest  of  human  virtues — we   had   been 
contending  together  for  our  common  country,  for  her  violated 
rights,  her  threatened  liberties,  her  prostrate  constitution.  Never 
did  I  suppose  that  personal  or  party  considerations  entered  into 
our  views.     Whether,  if  victory  shall  ever  again  be  about  to 
perch  upon  the  standard  of  the  spoils  party,— the  denomination 
which  the  senator  from  South  Carolina  has  so  often  given  to  his 
present  allies — he  will  not  feel  himself  constrained,  by  the  prin 
ciples  on  which  he  has  acted,  to  leave  them  because  it  mav  not 
30* 


354  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

enure  to  the  benefit  of  himself  and  his  party.  I  leave  to  be  ad 
justed  between  themselves. 

The  speech  of  the  senator  from  South  Carolina,  was  plausible, 
ingenious,  abstract,  metaphysical,  and  generalizing.  It  did  not 
appear  to  me  to  be  adapted  to  the  bosoms  and  business  of 
human  life.  It  was  aerial,  and  not  very  high  up  in  the  air,  Mr. 
President,  either,  not  quite  as  high  as  Mr.  Clayton  was  in  his 
last  ascensipn  in  his  baloon.  The  senator  announced  that  there 
was  a  single  alternative,  and  no  escape  from  one  or  the  other 
branch  of  it.  He  stated  that  we  must  take  the  -bill  under  consi 
deration,  or  the  substitute  proposed  by  the  senator  from  Virginia. 
I  do  not  concur  in  that  statement  of  the  case.  There  is  another 
course  embraced  in  neither  branch  of  the  senator's  alternative  ; 
and  that  course  is  to  do  nothing  ;  always  the  wisest  when  you 
are  not  certain  what  you  ought  to  do.  Let  us  suppose  that 
neither  branch  of  the  alternative  is  accepted,  and  that  nothing  is 
done.  What  then,  would  be  the  consequence  ?  There  would 
be  a  restoration  of  the  law  of  1789,  with  all  its  cautious  provis 
ions  and  securities,  provided  by  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors, 
which  has  been  so  trampled  upon  by  the  late  and  present  ad 
ministrations.  By  that  law,  establishing  the  treasury  depart 
ment,  the  treasure  of  the  United  States  is  to  be  received,  kept, 
and  disbursed  by  the  treasurer,  under  a  bond  with  ample  se 
curity,  under  a  large  penalty  fixed  by  law,  and  not  left,  as  this 
bill  leaves  it,  to  the  uncertain  discretion  of  a  secretary  of  the 
treasurv.  If,  therefore,  we  were  to  do  nothing,  that  law 
would  "be  revived ;  the  treasurer  would  have  the  custody,  as 
he  ought  to  have,  of  the  public  money,  and  doubtless  he 
would  make  special  deposites  of  it  in  all  instances,  with  safe  and 
sound  state  banks,  as  in  some  cases  the  secretary  of  the  treasury 
is  now  obliged  to  do.  Thus,  we  should  have  in  operation  that 
very  special  deposite  system,  so  much  desired  by  some  gentle 
men,  by  which  the  public  money  would  remain  separate  and  un 
mixed  with  the  money  of  banks.  There  is  yet  another  course, 
unembraced  by  either  branch  of  the  alternative  presented  by  the 
senator  from  South  Carolina;  and  that  is  to  establish  a  bank  of 
the  United  States,  constituted  according  to  the  old  and  approved 
method  of  forming  such  an  institution,  tested  and  sanctioned  by 
experience ;  a  bank  of  the  United  States  which  should  blend 
public  and  private  interests,  and  be  subject  to  public  and  private 
control,  united  together  in  such  a  manner  as  to  present  safe  and 
salutary  checks  against  all  abuses.  The  senator  mistakes  his 
own  abandonment  of  that  institution  as  ours.  I  know  that  the 
party  in  power  has  barricaded  itself  against  the  establishment 
of  such  a  bank.  It  adopted,  at  the  last  extra  session,  the  extra 
ordinary  and  unprecedented  resolution,  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  should  not  have  such  a  bank,  although  it  might 
be  manifest  that  there  was  a  clear  majority  of  them  demanding 
it.  But  the  day  may  come,  and  I  trust  is  not  distant,  when  the 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  355 

will  of  the  people  must  prevail  in  the  councils  of  her  own  gov 
ernment  ;  and  when  it  does  arrive  a  bank   will  be  established. 

The  senator  from  South  Carolina  reminds  us  that  we  de 
nounced  the  pet  bank  system ;  and  so  we  did,  and  so  we  do. 
But  does  it  therefore  follow  that,  bad  as  that  system  was,  we 
must  be  driven  into  the  acceptance  of  a  system  infinitely  worse  ? 
He  tells  us  that  the  bill  under  consideration  takes  the  public 
funds  out  of  the  hands  of  the  executive,  and  places  them  in  the 
hands  of  the  law.  It  does  no  such  thing.  They  are  now 
without  law,  it  is  true,  in  the  custody  of  the  executive ;  and 
the  bill  proposes  by  law  to  confirm  them  in  that  custody,  and  to 
convey  new  and  enormous  powers  of  control  to  the  executive 
over  them.  Every  custodary  of  the  public  funds  provided  by 
the  bill  is  a  creature  of  the  executive,  dependent  upon  his  breath, 
and  subject  to  the  same  breath  for  removal,  whenever  the  exe 
cutive,  Irom  caprice,  from  tyranny,  or  from  party  motives,  shall 
choose  to  order  it.  What  safety  is  there  for  the  public  money, 
if  there  were  a  hundred  subordinate  executive  officers  charged 
with  its  care,  whilst  the  doctrine  of  the  absolute  unity  oflhe 
whole  executive  power,  promulgated  by  the  last  administration, 
and  persisted  in  by  this,  remains  unrevoked  and  unrebuked  ? 

Whilst  the  senator  from  South  Carolina  professes  to  be  the 
friend  of  state  banks,  he  has  attacked  the  whole  banking  system 
of  the  United  States.  He  is  their  friend ;  he  only  thinks  they 
are  all  unconstitutional !  Why  ?  Because  the  coining  power 
is  possessed  by  the  general  government,  and  that  coining  power, 
he  argues,  was  intended  to  supply  a  currency  of  the  precious 
metals ;  but  the  state  banks  absorb  the  precious  metals,  and 
withdrew  them  from  circulation,  and,  therefore,  are  in  conflict 
with  the  coining  power.  That  power,  according  to  my  view  of 
it,  is  nothing  but  a  naked  authority  to  stamp  certain  pieces  of 
the  precious  metals,  in  fixed  proportions  of  alloy  and  pure  metal 
prescribed  by  law,  so  that  their  exact  value  be  known.  When 
that  office  is  performed,  the  power  isfunctus  officio  ;  the  money 
passes  out  of  the  mint,  and  becomes  the  lawful  property  of  those 
who  legally  acquire  it.  They  may  do  with  it  as  they  please, 
throw  it  into  the  ocean,  bury  it  in  the  earth,  or  melt  it  in  a  cru 
cible,  without  violating  any  law.  When  it  has  once  left  the 
vaults  of  the  mint,  the  law  "maker  has  nothing  to  do  with  it,  but 
to  protect  it  against  those  who  attempt  to  debase  or  counterfeit, 
and,  subsequently,  to  pass  it  as  lawful  money.  In  the  sense  in 
which  the  senator  supposes  banks  to  conflict  with  the  coining 
power,  foreign  commerce,  and  especially  our  commerce  with 
China,  conflicts  with  it  much  more  extensively.  That  is  the 
great  absorbent  of  the  precious  metals,  and  is  therefore  much 
more  unconstitutional  than  the  state  banks.  Foreign  commerce 
sends  them  out  of  the  country ;  banks  retain  them  within  it 
The  distinguished  senator  is  no  enemy  to  the  banks ;  he  merely 
thinks  them  injurious  to  the  morals  and  industry  of  the  country. 
He  likes  them  very  well,  but  he  nevertheless  believes  that  they 


356  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

levy  a  tax  of  twenty-five  millions  annually  on  the  industry  of 
the  country  !  Let  us  examine,  Mr.  President,  and  see  how  this 
enormous  and  iniquitous  assessment  is  made,  according  to  the 
argument  of  the  senator  from  South  Carolina.  He  states  that 
there  is  a  mass  of  debt  due  from  the  community  to  the  banks, 
amounting  to  $475,000,000,  the  interest  upon  which,  constituting 
about  that  sum  of  $25,000,000,  forms  the  exceptionable  tax. 
Now,  this  sum  is  not  paid  by  the  whole  community,  but  only  by 
those  individuals  who  obtain  discounts  from  the  "banks.  They 
borrow  money  at  six  per  cent,  interest,  and  invest  it  in  profitable 
adventures,  or  otherwise  employ  it.  They  would  not  borrow 
it  if  they  did  not  suppose  they  could  make  profit  by  it ;  and 
the  probability  is,  that  they  do  make  profit  by  it.  Instead, 
therefore,  of  there  being  any  loss  in  the  operation,  there  is  an 
actual  gain  to  the  community,  by  the  excess  of  profit  made  be 
yond  six  per  cent,  interest,  which  they  pay.  What  are  banks  ? 
They  are  mere  organized  agencies  for  the  loan  of  money  and 
the  transaction  of  monetary  business;  regulated  agencies  acting 
under  the  prescriptions  of  law,  and  subject  to  a  responsibility, 
moral  and  legal,  far  transcending  that  under  which  any  private 
capitalist  operates.  A  number  of  persons,  not  choosing  to  lend 
out  their  money  privately,  associate  together,  bring  their  respec 
tive  capitals  into  a  common  stock,  which  is  controlled  and  man 
aged  by  the  corporate  government  of  a  bank.  If  no  association 
whatever  had  been  formed,  a  large  portion  of  this  capital,  there 
fore,  of  that  very  debt  of  $475,000,000,  would  still  exist,  in  the 
shape  of  private  loans. 

The  senator  from  South  Carolina  might  as  well  collect  the 
aggregate  amount  of  all  the  mortgages,  bonds,  and  notes,  which 
have  been  executed  in  the  United  States  for  loans,  and  assert 
that  the  interest  paid  upon  the  total  sum  constituted  a  tax  levied 
upon  the  community. 

In  the  liquidation  of  the  debt  due  to  the  banks  from  the  com 
munity,  and  from  banks  to  the  community,  there  would  not  be 
as  much  difficulty  as  the  senator  seems  to  apprehend.  From 
the  mass  of  debts  due  to  the  banks  are  to  be  deducted,  first,  the 
amount  of  subscriptions  which  constitute  their  capitals  ;  second 
ly,  the  amount  of  deposites  to  the  credit  of  individuals  in  their 
custody ;  and,  thirdly,  the  amount  of  their  notes  in  circulation. 
How  easily  will  these  mutual  debts  neutralize  each  other !  The 
same  person,  in  numberless  instances,  will  combine  in  himself 
the  relations  both  of  creditor  and  debtor. 

The  only  general  operation  of  banks  beyond  their  discounts 
and  deposites,  which  pervades  the  whole  community,  is  that  of 
furnishing  a  circulation  in  redeemable  paper,  beyond  the  amount 
of  specie  to  redeem  it  in  their  vaults.  Andean  it  be  doubted  that 
this  additional  supply  of  money  furnishes  a  powerful  stimulus  to 
industry  and  production,  fully  compensating  any  casual  inconve 
nience,  which  sometimes,  though  rarely,  occurs  ?  Banks  reduce 
the  rate  of  interest,  and  repress  inordinate  usury.  The  salutary 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  357 

influence  of  banking  operations  is  demonstrated  in  countries  and 
sections  of  country  where  they  prevail,  when  contrasted  with 
ihose  in  which  they  are  not  found.  In  the  former,  all  is  bustle, 
activity,  general  prosperity.  The  country  is  beautified  and 
adorned  by  the  noble  works  of  internal  improvements  ;  the  cities 
are  filled  with  splendid  edifices,  and  the  wharves  covered  with  the 
rich  productions  of  our  own  and  of  foreign  climates.  In  the 
latter,  all  is  sluggishness,  slothfulness,  and  inactivity.  England, 
in  modern  times,  illustrates  the  great  advantages  of  banks,  of 
credit,  and  of  stimulated  industry.  Contrast  her  with  Spain, 
destitute  of  all  those  advantages.  In  ancient  times,  Athens 
would  present  an  image  of  full  and  active  employment  of  all  the 
energies  of  man,  carried  to  the  highest  point  of  civilization, 
whilst  her  neighbor,  Sparta,  with  her  iron  money,  affords  an 
other  of  the  boasted  benefits  of  metalic  circulation. 

The  senator  from  South  Carolina  would  do  the  banks  no 
harm ;  but  they  are  deemed  by  him  highly  injurious  to  the 
planting  interest !  According  to  him,  they  inflate  prices,  and 
the  poor  planter  sells  his  productions  for  hard  money,  and  has  to 
purchase  his  supplies  at  the  swolen  prices  produced  by  a  paper 
medium.  Now,  I  must  dissent  altogether  from  the  senator's 
statement  of  the  case.  England,  the  principal  customer  of  the 
planter,  is  quite  as  much,  if  not  more  a  paper  country  than  ours. 
And  the  paper-money  prices  of  the  tme  country  are  neutralized 
by  the  paper-money  prices  of  the  other  country.  If  the  argu 
ment  were  true  that  a  paper-money  country  trades  disadvanta- 
geously  with  a  hard-money  country,  we  ought  to  continue  to 
employ  a  paper  medium,  to  counterbalance  the  paper  medium 
of  England.  And  if  we  were  to  banish  our  paper,  and  substi 
tute  altogether  a  metallic  currency,  we  should  be  exposod  to  the 
very  inequality  which  has  been  insisted  upon.  But  there  is  no 
thing  in  that  view  of  the  matter  which  is  presented  by  the  Sena 
tor  from  South  Carolina.  If,  as  he  asserts,  prices  were  always 
inflated  in  this  country  beyond  their  standard  in  England,  the 
rate  of  exchange  would  be  constantly  against  us.  An  examina 
tion,  however,  into  the  actual  state  of  exchange  between  the  two 
countries,  for  a  long  series  of  years,  evinces  that  it  has  generally 
been  in  our  favor.  In  the  direct  trade  between  England  and  this 
country,  I  have  no  doubt  there  is  a  large  annual  balance  against 
us ;  but  that  balance  is  adjusted  and  liquidated  by  balances  in 
our  favor  in  other  branches  of  our  foreign  trade,  which  have  been 
finally  concentrated  in  England,  as  the  great  centre  of  the  com 
mercial  world. 

Of  all  the  interests  and  branches  of  industry  in  this  country, 
none  has  profited  more  by  the  use  and  employment  of  credit  and 
capital  derived  from  the  banks  and  other  sources,  than  the  plant 
ing  interest.  It  habitually  employs  credit  in  all  countries  where 
planting  agriculture  prevails.  The  states  of  Alabama,  Missis 
sippi,  Arkansas,  and  Louisiana,  have  almost  sprung  into  exist 
ence,  as  it  were,  by  magic,  or  at  least,  have  been  vastly  improved 


358  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

and  extended,  under  the  influence  of  the  credit  system.  Lands, 
slaves,  utensils,  beasts  of  burden,  and  other  supplies,  have  been 
constantly  bought,  and  still  continue  to  be  purchased,  upon  cre 
dit;  and  bank  agency  is  all-essential  to  give  the  most  beneficial 
operation  to  these  credits.  But  the  argument  of  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina,  which  I  am  combating,  would  not  be  cor 
rect,  if  it  were  true  that  we  have  inflated  prices  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic,  without  a  corresponding  inflation  of  price  on  the 
other  side ;  because  the  planter,  generally  selling  at  home,  and 
buying  at  home,  the  proceeds  of  his  sale,  whatever  they  may  be, 
constitute  the  means  by  which  he  effects  his  purchases,  and  con 
sequently  neutralizes  each  other.  In  what  do  we  of  the  west 
receive  payment  for  the  immense  quantity  of  live  stock  and  oth 
er  produce  of  our  industry,  which  we  annually  sell  to  the  south 
and  southwest,  but  that  paper  medium  now  so  much  decried  and 
denounced?  The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  is  very  fond  of 
the  state  banks ;  but  he  thinks  there  is  no  legitimate  currency 
except  that  of  the  constitution.  He  contends  that  the  power 
which  the  government  possesses  to  impose  taxes  restricts  it,  in 
their  payment  to  the  receipt  of  the  precious  metals.  But  the 
constitution  does  not  say  so.  The  power  is  given  in  broad  and 
unrestricted  terms  ;  and  the  government  is  left  at  liberty  to  col 
lect  the  taxes  in  whatever  medium  or  commodity,  from  the  exi 
gencies  of  the  case,  it  can  collect  them.  It  is,  doubtless,  much 
the  most  convenient  to  collect  them  in  money,  because  that  re 
presents,  or  can  command,  every  thing,  the  want  of  which  is  im 
plied  by  the  power  of  taxation.  But  suppose  there  was  no  mo 
ney  in  the  country,  none  whatever,  to  be  extorted  by  the  tax- 
gatherer  from  an  impoverished  people?  Is  the  power  of 
government  to  cease,  and  the  people  to  be  thrown  back  into  a 
state  of  nature?  The  Senator  asks  if  taxes  could  be  levied  and 
collected  in  tobacco,  in  cotton,  and  other  commodities  ?  Undoubt 
edly  they  could,  if  the  necessity  existed  for  such  an  inconvenient 
imposition.  Such  a  case  of  necessity  did  exist  in  the  colony  of 
Virginia,  and  other  colonies,  prior  to  the  revolution,  and  taxes 
were  accordingly  levied  in  tobacco  or  other  commodities,  as  wolf- 
scalps,  even  at  this  day,  compose  a  part  of  the  revenue  of  more 
than  one  state. 

The  argument,  then,  of  the  Senator  against  the  right  of  the 
government  to  receive  bank  notes  in  payment  of  public  dues,  a 
practice  coeval  with  the  existence  of  the  government,  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  be  sound.  It  is  not  accurate,  for  another  reason. 
Bank  notes,  when  convertible  at  the  will  of  the  holder  into  specie, 
are  so  much  counted  or  told  specie,  like  the  specie  which  is  count 
ed  and  put  in  marked  kegs,  denoting  the  quantity  of  their  con 
tents.  The  Senator  tells  us  that  it  has  been  only  within  a  few 
days  that  he  has  discovered  that  it  is  illegal  to  receive  bank  notes 
in  payment  of  public  dues.  Does  he  think  that  the  usage  of  the 
government  under  all  its  administrations,  and  with  every  party 
in  power,  which  has  prevailed  for  nigh  fifty  years,  ought  to  be 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  359 

set  aside  by  a  novel  theory  of  his,  just  dreamed  into  existence, 
even  if  it  possess  the  merit  of  ingenuity  ?  The  bill  under  con 
sideration,  which  has  been  eulogized  by  the  Senator  as  perfect 
in  its  structure  and  details,  contains  a  provision  that  bank  notes 
shall  be  received  in  diminished  proportions,  during  a  term  of  six 
years.  He  himself  introduced  the  identical  principle.  It  is  the 
only  part  of  the  bill  that  is  emphatically  his.  How,  then,  can  he 
contend  that  it  is  unconstitutional  to  receive  bank  notes  in  pay 
ment  of  public  dues  ?  I  appeal  from  himself  to  himself.  The 
Senator  further  contends,  that  general  deposites  cannot  be  made 
with  banks,  and  be  thus  confounded  with  the  general  mass  of  the 
funds  on  which  they  transact  business.  The  argument  supposes 
that  the  money  collected  for  taxes  must  be  preserved  in  identity ; 
but  that  is  impossible,  often,  to  do.  May  not  a  collector  give  the 
small  change  which  he  has  received  from  one  tax-payer  to  ano 
ther  tax-payer  to  enable  him  to  effect  his  payment?  May  he  not 
change  gold  for  silver,  or  vice  versa,  or  both,  if  he  be  a  distant 
collector^to  obtain  an  undoubted  remittance  to  the  public  treas 
ury  ?  What,  Mr.  President,  is  the  process  of  making  deposites 
with  banks  ?  The  deposite  is  made,  and  a  credit  is'  entered  for 
its  amount  to  the  government  That  credit  is  supposed  to  be  the 
exact  equivalent  of  the  amount  deposited,  ready  and  forthcoming 
to  the  government  whenever  it  is  wanted  for  the  purposes  of  dis 
bursement.  It  is  immaterial  to  the  government  whether  it  re 
ceives  back  again  the  identical  money  put  in,  or  other  money  of 
equal  value.  All  that  it  wants  is  what  it  put  in  the  bank,  or  its 
equivalent ;  and  that,  in  ordinary  times,  with  such  prudent  banks 
as  alone  ought  to  be  selected,  it  is  sure  of  getting.  Again  :  :htt 
treasury  has  frequently  to  make  remittances  to  foreign  countries, 
to  meet  the  expenditure  necessary  there  for  our  naval  squadrons 
and  other  purposes.  They  are  made  to  the  bankers,  to  the  Ba 
rings  or  the  Rothschilds,  in  the  form  of  bills  of  exchange,  pur 
chased  in  the  market  by  the  agents  of  the  government  here,  with 
money  drawn  out  of  the  treasury.  Here  is  one  conversion  of 
the  money  received  from  the  tax-gatherer  into  the  treasury.  The 
bills  are  transmitted  to  the  bankers,  honored,  paid,  and  the  amount 
credited  by  them  to  the  United  States.  Are  the  bankers  bound 
to  retain  the  proceeds  of  the  bills  in  identity  1  Are  they  bound 
to  do  more  than  credit  the  government  for  an  equal  amount,  for 
which  they  stand  responsible  whenever  it  is  wanted  ?  If  they 
should  happen  to  use  any  portion  of  those  very  proceeds  of  bills 
remitted  to  them  in  their  banking  operations,  would  it  be  draw 
ing  money  from  the  treasury,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the 
constitution  ? 

The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  contends  that  there  is  no 
constitutional  power  to  contract  with  the  twenty-five  selected 
banks,  as  proposed  in  the  substitute ;  yet  the  deposite  act  of  1836, 
which  obtained  the  hearty  approbation  of  that  Senator,  contain 
ed  a  similar  provision  ;  and  the  very  bill  under  consideration,  so 
warmly  supported  by  him,  provides,  under  certain  contingencies, 


360  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

for  contracts  to  be  made  with  state  banks,  to  receive  deposites  ol 
the  public  money  upon  compensation,  He  objects  to  the  substi 
tute,  that  it  converts  twenty-five  state  banks  into  a  system  of  fed 
eral  institutions ;  but  the  employment  of  state  institutions  by  the 
federal  authority  no  more  makes  them  federal,  than  the  employ 
ment  of  federal  institutions  jythe  states  converts  them  into  state 
institutions.  This  mutual  aid,  and  this  reciprocal  employment 
of  the  several  institutions  of  the  general  and  particular  govern 
ments,  is  one  of  the  resuiL  and  beauties  of  our  admirable  though 
complex  system  of  government.  The  general  government  has 
the  use  of  the  capital,  court-houses,  prisons,  and  penitentiaries, 
in  the  several  states.  Do  they,  therefore,  cease  to  appertain  to 
the  states  ?  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  although  the  state 
banks  may  occasionally  be  used  by  the  federal  authority,  their 
legal  responsibility  to  the  several  states  remains  unimpaired. — 
They  continue  to  be  accountable  to  them,  and  their  existence  can 
only  be  terminated  or  prolonged  by  the  state  authority.  And  be 
ing  governed,  as  they  are,  by  corporate  authority,  emanating 
from,  and  amenable  to,  state  jurisdiction,  and  not  under  the  con 
trol  of  the  executive  of  the  United  States,  constitutes  at  once  a 
greater  security  for  the  public  money,  and  more  safety  to  the 
public  liberty.  It  has  been  argued  that  a  separation  of  the  gov 
ernment  from  the  banks  will  diminish  the  executive  power.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  the  custody  of  the  public  money  in  various 
banks,  subject  to  the  control  of  state  authority,  furnishes  some 
check  upon  the  possible  abuses  of  the  executive  government, — 
But  the  argument  maintains  that  the  executive  has  least  power 
when  it  has  most  complete  possession  of  the  public  treasury: 
The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  contends  that  the  separation 
in  question  being  once  effected,  the  relation  of  the  federal  gov 
ernment  and  the  state  banks  will  be  antagonistical.  I  believe 
so,  Mr.  President.  This  is  the  very  thing  I  wish  to  prevent.  I 
want  them  to  live  in  peace,  harmony  and  friendship.  If  they  are 
antagonists,  how  is  it  possible  that  the  state  banks  can  maintain 
their  existence  against  the  tremendous  influence  of  this  govern 
ment?  Especially,  if  this  government  should  be  backed  by  such 
a  vast  treasury  bank  as  I  verily  believe  this  bill  is  intended  to 
create  ?  And  what  becomes  of  the  argument  urged  by  the  Se 
nator  from  South  Carolina,  and  the  abolition  resolutions  offered 
by  him  at  an  early  period  of  the  session,  asserting  that  the  gen 
eral  government  is  bound  to  protect  the  domestic  institutions  ot 
the  several  states? 

The  substitute  is  not,  I  think,  what  the  welfare  of  the  country 
requires.  It  may  serve  the  purpose  of  a  good  half-way  house. 
Its  accommodations  appear  fair,  and,  with  the  feelings  of  a  wea 
ried  traveller,  one  may  be  tempted  to  stop  awhile  and  refresh 
himself  there.  I  shall  vote  for  it  as  an  amendment  to  the  bill, 
because  I  believe  it  the  least  of  two  evils,  if  it  should,  indeed,  in 
flict  any  evil ;  or  rather,  because  I  feel  myself  in  the  position  of 
a  patient  to  whom  the  physician  presents  in  one  hand  a  cup  of 


ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY.  361 

arsenic,  and  in  the  other  a  cup  of  ptisan  ;  I  reject  the  first,  be 
cause  of  the  instant  death  with  which  it  is  charged ;  I  take  the 
latter,  as  being,  at  the  most,  harmless,  and  depend  upon  the  vis 
medicatrix  imtura.  It  would  have  been  a  great  improvement 
in  my  opinion,  if  the  mode  of  bringing  about  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments,  contained  in  the  substitute,  were  reversed  :  that 
is  to  say,  if,  instead  of  fixing  on  the  first  of  July  for  resumption, 
it  had  provided  that  the  notes  of  a  certain  number  of  safe,  sound 
and  unquestionable  banks  to  be  selected,  should  be  forthwith  re 
ceived  by  the  general  government  in  payment  of  all  public  dues ; 
and  that  if  the  selected  banks  did  not  resume,  by  a  future  desig 
nated  day,  their  notes  should  cease  to  be  taken.  Several  imme 
diate  effects  would  follow:  1st.  The  government  would  withdraw 
from  the  market  as  a  competitor  with  the  banks  for  specie,  and 
they  would  be  left  undisturbed  to  strengthen  themselves.  And, 
2dly,  confidence  would  be  restored  by  taking  off  the  discredit  and 
discountenance  thrown  upon  all  banks  by  the  government.  And 
why  should  these  notes  not  be  so  received  ?  They  are  as  good 
as  treasury  notes,  if  not  better.  They  answer  all  the  purposes 
of  the  state  governments  and  the  people.  They  now  would  buy 
as  much  as  specie  could  have  commanded  at  the  period  of  sus 
pension.  They  could  be  disbursed  by  the  government.  And, 
finally,  the  measure  would  be  temporary. 

But  the  true  and  only  efficacious  and  permanent  remedy,  I 
solemnly  believe,  is  to  be  found  in  a  bank  of  the  United  States; 
properly  organized  and  constituted.  We  are  told  that  such  a 
bank  is  fraught  with  indescribable  danger,  and  that  the  govern 
ment  must,  in  the  sequel,  get  possession  of  the  bank,  or  the  bank 
of  the  government.  I  oppose  to  these  imaginary  terrors  the 
practical  experience  of  forty  years.  I  oppose  to  them  the  issue 
of  the  memorable  contest,  commenced  by  the  late  President  of 
the  United  States,  against  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States. 
The  administration  of  that  bank  had  been  without  serious  fault. 
It  had  given  no  just  offence  to  the  government,  towards  which 
it  had  faithfully  performed  every  financial  duty.  Under  its  able 
and  enlightened  President,  it  had  fulfilled  every  anticipation 
which  had  been  formed  by  those  who  created  it;  President 
Jackson  pronounced  the  edict  that  it  must  fall,  and  it  did  fall, 
against  the  wishes  of  an  immense  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States;  against  the  convictions  of  its  utility  entertained 
by  a  large  majority  of  the  states;  and  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
best  interests  of  the  whole  country.  If  an  innocent,  unoffending 
and  highly  beneficial  institution  could  be  thus  easily  destroyed 
by  the  power  of  one  man,  where  would  be  the  difficulty  of 
crushing  it  if  it  had  given  any  real  cause  for  just  animadver 
sion?  Finally,  I  oppose  to  these  imaginary  terrors  the  example 
deducible  from  English  history.  There  a  bank  has  existed 
eince  the  year  1694,  and  neither  has  the  bank  got  possession  of 
the  government,  nor  the  government  of  the  bank.  They  have 

ol 


362  ON  THE  SUB-TREASURY. 

existed  in  harmony  together,  both  conducing  to  the  prosperity 
of  that  great  country;  and  they  have  so  existed,  and  so  con 
tributed,  because  each  has  avoided  cherishing  towards  the  other 
that  wanton  and  unnecessary  spirit  of  hostility  which  was  un 
fortunately  engendered  in  the  bosom  of  the  late  President  of 
the  United  States. 

I  am  admonished,  sir,  by  my  exhausted  strength,  and  by,  1 
fear,  your  more  exhausted  patience,  to  hasten  to  a  close.  Mr. 
President,  a  great,  novel  and  untried  measure  is  perseveringly 
urged  upon  the  acceptance  of  Congress.  That  it  is  pregnant 
with  tremendous  consequences,  for  good  or  evil,  is  undeniable. 
and  admitted  by  all.  We  firmly  believe  that  it  will  be  fatal  to 
the  best  interests  of  this  country,  and  ultimately  subversive  of  ita 
liberties.  You,  who  have  been  greatly  disappointed  in  other 
measures  of  equal  promise,  can  only  hope,  in  the  doubtful  and 
uncertain  future,  that  its  operation  may  prove  salutary.  Since 
it  was  first  proposed  at  the  extra  session,  the  whole  people  have 
not  had  an  opportunity  of  passing  in  judgment  upon  it  at.  their 
elections.  As  far  as  they  have,  they  have  expressed  their  un 
qualified  disapprobation.  From  Maine  to  the  state  of  Missis 
sippi,  its  condemnation  has  been  loudly  thundered  forth.  In 
every  intervening  election,  the  administration  has  been  defeated, 
or  its  former  majorities  neutralized.  Maine  has  spoken ;  New- 
York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Ohio,  Rhode  Island,  Mississippi 
and  Michigan ;  all  these  states,  in  tones  and  terms  not  to  be 
misunderstood,  have  denounced  the  measure.  The  key-stone 
state  (God  bless  her)  has  twice  proclaimed  her  rejection  of  it, 
once  at  the  polls,  arid  once  through  her  Legislature.  Friends 
and  foes  of  the  administration  have  united  in  condemning  it. 
And,  at  the  very  moment  when  I  am  addressing  you,  a  large 
meeting  of  the  late  supporters  of  the  administration,  headed  by 
the  distinguished  gentleman  who  presided  in  the  electoral  col 
lege  which  gave  the  vote  of  that  patriotic  state  to  President 
Van  Buren,  are  assembling  in  Philadelphia,  to  protest  solemnly 
against  the  passage  of  this  bill.  Is  it  right  that,  under  such  cir 
cumstances,  it  should  be  forced  upon  a  reluctant  but  free  and 
intelligent  people?  Is  it  right  that  this  Senate,  constituted  as  it 
now  is,  should  give  its  sanction  to  the  measure?  I  say  it  in  no 
disrespectful  or  taunting  sense,  but  we  are  entitled,  according  to 
the  latest  expressions  of  the  popular  will,  arid  in  virtue  of  mani 
festations  of  opinion  deliberately  expressed  by  State  Legisla 
tures,  to  a  vote  of  thirty-five  against  the  bill ;  and  I  am  ready  to 
enter,  with  any  Senator  friendly  to  the  administration,  into  de 
tails  to  prove  the  assertion.  Will  the  Senate,  then,  bring  upon 
itself  the  odium  of  passing  this  bill  ?  I  implore  it  to  forbear, 
forbear,  forbear !  I  appeal  to  the  instructed  Senators.  Is  this 
government  made  for  us,  or  for  the  people  and  the  states,  whose 
agents  we  are?  Are  we  not  bound  so  to  administer  it  as  to 
advance  their  welfare,  promote  their  prosperity,  and  give  gene 
ral  satisfaction?  Will  that  sacred  trust  be  fulfilled,  if  the  known 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  363 

sentiments  of  large  and  respectable  communities  are  despised 
and  condemned  by  those  whom  they  have  sent  here  ?  I  call 
upon  the  honorable  Senator  from  Alabama,  (Mr.  King,)  with 
whom  I  have  so  long  stood  in  the  public  councils,  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  bearing  up  the  honor  and  the  glory  of  this  great  peo 
ple,  to  come  now  to  their  rescue.  I  call  upon  all  the&Senators ; 
let  us  bury,  deep  and  forever,  the  character  of  the  partizan,  rise 
up  patriots  and  statesmen,  break  the  vile  chains  of  party,  throw 
the  fragments  to  the  winds,  and  feel  the  proud  satisfaction  that 
we  have  made  but  a  small  sacrifice  to  the  paramount  obligations 
which  we  owe  our  common  country. 


ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

In  Senate,  TJmrsday,  February  7,  1839. 

Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentuckj^  rose  to  present  a  petition,  and  said : 
I  have  received,  Mr.  President,  a  petition  to  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  which  I  wish  to 
present  to  the  Senate.  It  is  signed  by  several  hundred  inhabi 
tants  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  chiefly  of  the  city  of 
Washington.  Among  them  I  recognize  the  name  of  the  highly 
esteemed  mayor  of  the  city,  and  other  respectable  names,  s^me 
of  which  are  personally  and  well  known  to  me.  They  express 
their  regret  that  the  subject  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  within  the 
District  of  Columbia  continues  to  be  pressed  upon  the  considera 
tion  of  Congress  by  inconsiderate  and  misguided  individuals  in 
other  parts  of  the  United  States.  They  state  that  they  do  not 
desire  the  abolition  of  slavery  within  the  district,  even  if  Con 
gress  possess  the  very  questionable  power  of  abolishing  it,  with 
out  the  consent  of  the  people  whose  interests  would  be  immedi 
ately  and  directly  affected  by  the  measure  ;  that  it  is  a  question 
solely  between  the  people  of  the  district  and  their  only  constitu 
tional  legislature,  purely  municipal,  and  one  in  which  no  exte 
rior  influence  or  interest  can  justly  interfere ;  that,  if  at  any 
future  period  the  people  of  this 'district  should  desire  the  abolition 
of  slavery  within  it,  they  will  doubtless  make  their  wishes  known, 
when  it  will  be  time  enough  to  take  the  matter  into  considera 
tion;  that  they  do  not,  on  this  occasion,  present  themselves  to 
Congress  because  they  are  slave-holders — many  of  them  are  not; 
some  of  them  are  conscientiously  opposed  to  slavery — but  they 
appear  because  they  justly  respect  the  rights  of  those  who  own 
that  description  of  property,  and  because  they  entertain  a  deep 
conviction  that  the  continued  agitation  of  the  question  by  those 
who  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  it,  has  an  injurious  influence 
on  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  community,  and  upon  the 
well-being  and  happiness  of  those  who  are  held  in  subjection ; 


364  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

they  finally  protest  as  well  against  the  unauthorized  interven 
tion  of  which  they  complain,  as  against  any  legislation  on  the 
part  of  Congress  in  compliance  therewith.  But,  as  I  wish 
these  respectable  petitioners  to  be  themselves  heard,  I  request 
that  their  petition  may  be  read.  [It  was  read  accordingly, 
and  Mr.  Clay  proceeded.]  I  am  informed  by  the  committee 
which  requested  me  to  offer  this  petition,  and  believe,  that  it 
expresses  the  almost  unanimous  sentiments  of  the  people  of 
die  District  of  Columbia. 

•The  performance  of  this  service  affords  me.  said  Mr.  C.,  a 
legitimate  opportunity,  of  which,  with  the  permission  of  the 
Senate,  I  mean  now  to  avail  myself,  to  say  something,  not  only 
on  the  particular  objects  of  the  petition,  but  upon  the  great 
and  interesting  subject  with  which  it  is  intimately  associated. 

It  is  well  known  to  the  Senate,  said  Mr.  Clay,  that  I  have 
thought  that  the  most  judicious  course  with  abolition  petitions 
has  not  been  of  late  pursued  by  Congress.  I  have  believed 
that  it  would  have  been  wisest  to  have  received  and  referred 
them,  without  opposition,  and  to  have  reported  against  their 
object  in  a  calm  and  dispassionate  and  argumentatative  ap 
peal  to  the  good  sense  of  the  whole  community.  It  has  been 
supposed,  however,  by  a  majority  of  Congress,  that  it  was  most 
expedient  either  not  to  receive  the  petitions  at  all,  or,  if  formally 
received,  not  to  act  definitively  upon  them.  There  is  no  sub 
stantial  difference  between  these  opposite  opinions,  since  both 
look  to  an  absolute  rejection  of  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners. 
But  there  is  a  great  difference  in  the  form  of  proceeding;  and, 
Mr.  President,  some  experience  in  the  conduct  of  human  affairs 
has  taught  me  to  believe  that  a  neglect  to  observe  established 
forms  is  often  attended  with  more  mischievous  consequences 
than  the  inflation  of  a  positive  injury.  We  all  know  that,  even 
in  private  life',  a  violation  of  the  existing  usages  and  ceremonies 
of  society  cannot  take  place  without  serious  prejudice.  I  fear, 
sir,  that  the  abolitionists  have  acquired  a  considerable  apparent 
force  by  blending  with  the  object  which  they  have  in  view  a 
collateral  and  totally  different  question  arising  out  of  an  al- 
]  edged  violation  of  the  right  of  petition.  I  know  full  well,  and 
take  great  pleasure  in  testifying,  that  nothing  was  remoter  from 
i'ie  intention  of  the  majority  of  the  Senate,  from  which  I  differed, 
i.han  to  violate  tlife  right  of  petition  in  any  case  in  which,  accor 
ding  to  its  judgment,  that  right  could  be  constitutionally  exer 
cised,  or  where  the  object  of  the  petition  could  be  safely  or  pro 
perly  o-rantcd.  Still,  it  must  be  owned  that  the  abolitionists  have 
seized  hold  of  the  fact  of  the  treatment  which  their  petitions 
have  received  in  Congress,  and  made  injurious  impressions 
upon  the  minds  of  a  large  portion  of  the  community.  This,  I 
think,  might  have  been  avoided  by  the  course  which  I  should 
have  been  glad  to  have  seen  pursued. 

And  I  desire  now,  Mr.  President,  to  advert  to  some  of  those 
topics  which  I  think  might  have  been  usefully  embodied  in  a  re- 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  365 

port  by  a  committee  of  the  Senate,  and  which,  I  am  persuaded, 
would  have  checked  the  progress,  if  it  had  not  altogether  arrest 
ed  the  efforts  of  abolition.  I  am  sensible,  sir,  that  this  woik 
would  have  been  accomplished  with  much  greater  ability  and 
with  much  happier  effect,  under  the  auspices  of  a  committee, 
than  it  can  be  by  me.  But,  anxious  as  I  always  am  to  contri 
bute  whatever  is  in  my  power  to  the  harmony,  concord,  and 
happiness  of  this  great  people,  I  feel  myself  irresistably  impelled 
to  do  whatever  is  in  my  power,  incompetent  as  I  feel  myself  to 
be,  to  dissuade  the  public  from  continuing  to  agitate  a  subject 
fraught  with  the  most  direful  consequences. 

There  are  three  classes  of  persons  opposed,  or  apparently  op 
posed,  to  the  continued  existence  of  slavery  ia  the  United  States. 
The  first  are  those  who,  from  sentiments  of  philanthropy  and 
humanity,  are  conscientiously  opposed  to  the  existence  of  slavery, 
but  who  are  no  less  opposed,  at  the  same  time,  to  any  disturb 
ance  of  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  Union;  or  the  infringe 
ment  of  the  powers  of  the  states  composing  the  confederacy. 
In  this  class  may  be  comprehended  that  peaceful  and  exemplary 
society  of  ';  Friends,"  one  of  whose  established  maxims  is.  an 
abhorrence  of  war  in  all  its  forms,  and  the  cultivation  of  peace 
and  good-will  amongst  mankind.     The  next  class  consists  of  ap 
parent  abolitionists — that  is,  those  who,  having  been  persuaded 
that  the  right  of  petition  has  been  violated  by  Congress,  co 
operate  with  the  abolitionists  for  the  sole  purpose  of  asserting 
and  vindicating  th^i  ri^ht.     And  the  third  class  are  the  real 
ultra-abolitionis-is.  who  are  resolved  to  persevere  in  the  pursuit 
of  their  object  at  all  hazards,  and  without  regard  to  any  conse 
quences,  however    calamitous  they  may  be.     With  them   the 
rights  of  property  are  nothing;  the  deficiency  of  the  powers  of 
the -general  government  is  nothing;  the  acknowledged  and  in- 
contestible  powers  of  the  states  are  nothing ;  civil  war,  a  disso 
lution  of  the  Union,  and  the  overthrow  of  a  government  in  which 
are  concentrated   the  fondest  hopes  of  the  civilized  wrorld,  are 
nothing.    A  single  idea  has  taken  possession  of  their  minds,  and 
onward  they  pursue  it.  overlooking  all  barriers,  reckless  and  re 
gardless  of  all  consequences.     With  this  class,  the  immediate 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  the  terri 
tory  of  Florida,  the  prohibition   of  the  removal  of  slaves  from 
state  to  state,  and  the  refusal  to  admit  any  new  state,  comprising 
within  its  limits  the  institution  of  domestic  slavery,  are  but  so 
many  means  conduciug  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  ultimate 
but  perilous  end  at  which  they  avowedly  and  boldly  aim ;  are 
but  so  many  short  stages   in  the  long  and  bloody  road  to  the 
distant  goal  at  which  they  would  finally  arrive.     Their  purpose 
is  abolition,  universal  abolition,  peaceably  if  it  can.  forcibly  if 
it  must.     Their  object  is  no  longer  concealed  by  the  thinnest 
veil;  it  is  avowed  and  proclaimed.    Utterly  destitute  of  consti 
tutional  or  other  rightful  power,  living  in  totally  distinct  com- 
31* 


366  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

raunities,  as  alien  to  the  communities  in x  which  the  subject  on 
which  they  would  operate  resides,  so  far  as  concerns  political 
power  over  that  subject,  as  if  they  lived  in  Africa  or  Asia,  they 
nevertheless  promulgate  to  the  world  their  purpose  to  be  to 
manumit  forthwith,  and  without  compensation,  and  without 
moral  preparation,  three  millions  of  negro  slaves,  under  jurisdic 
tions  altogether  separated  from  those  under  which  they  live.  I 
have  said  that  immediate  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  and  the  territory  of  Florida,  and  the  exclusion  of  new 
states,  were  only  means  towards  the  attainment  of  a  much  more 
important  end.  Unfortunately,  they  are  not  the  only  means. 
Another,  and  much  more  lamentable  one  is  that  which  this  class 
is  endeavoring  to  employ,  of  arraying  one  portion  against  an 
other  portion  of  the  Union.  With  that  view,  in  all  their  leading 
prints  and  publications,  the  alledged  horrors  of  slavery  are  de 
picted  in  the  most  glowing  and  exaggerated  colors,  to  excite  the 
imaginations  and  stimulate  the  rage  of  the  people  in  the  free 
states  against  the  people  in  the  slave  states.  The  slave-holder 
is  held  up  and  represented  as  the  most  atrocious  of  human  beings. 
Advertisements  of  fugitive  slaves  and  of  slaves,  to  be  sold,  are 
carefully  collected  and  blazoned  forth,  to  infuse  a  spirit  of  de 
testation  and  hatred  against  one  entire  and  the  largest  section 
of  the  Union.  And  like  a  notorious  agitator  upon  another  the 
atre,  they  would  hunt  down  and  proscribe  from  the  pale  of  civil 
ized  society  the  inhabitants  of  that  entire  section.  Allow  me, 
Mr.  President,  to  say,  that  whilst  I  recognize  in  the  justly 
wounded  feelings  of  the  minister  of  the  United  States  at  the 
court  of  St.  James,  much  to  excuse  the  notice  which  he  was 
provoked  to  take  of  that  agitator,  in  my  humble  opinion,  he 
would  better  have  consulted  the  dignity  of  his  station  and  of  his 
country  in  treating  him  with  contemptuous  silence.  He  would 
exclude  us  from  European  society— he  who  himself  can  only  ob 
tain  a  contraband  admission,  and  is  received  with  scornful  re 
pugnance  into  it !  If  he  be  no  more  desirous  of  our  society  than 
we  are  of  his,  he  may  rest  assured  that  a  state  of  eternal  non- 
i-ntercourse  will  exist  between  us.  Yes,  sir,  I  think  the  American 
minister  would  have  best  pursued  the  dictates  of  true  dignity  by 
regarding  the  language  of  the  member  of  the  British  House  of 
Commons  as  the  malignant  ravings  of  the  plunderer  of  his 
own  country,  and  the  libeller  of  a  foreign  and  kindred  people. 

But  the  means  to  which  I  have  already  adverted,  are  not  the 
only  ones  which  this  third  class  of  ultra-abolitionists  are  employ 
ing  to  effect  their  ultimate  end.  They  began  their  operations 
by  professing  to  employ  only  persuasive  means  in  appealing  to 
the  humanity,  and  enlightening  the  understandings,  of  the  slave- 
holding  portion  of  the  Union,  If  there  were  some  kindness  in 
this  avowed  motive,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  waa 
rather  a  presumptuous  display  also  of  an  assumed  superiority  in 
intelligence  and  knowledge.  For  some  time  they  continued  to 
make  these  appeals  to  our  duty  and  our  interest  j  but  impatient 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  367 

with  the  slow  influence  of  their  logic  upon  our  stupid  minds 
they  recently  resolved  to  change  their  system  of  action.  To  the 
agency  of  their  powers  of  persuasion,  they  now  propose  to  sub 
stitute  the  powers  of  the  ballot  box ;  and  he  must  be  blind  to 
what  is  passing  before  us,  who  does  not  perceive  that  the  inev 
itable  tendency  of  their  proceedings  is,  if  these  should  be  found 
insufficient,  to  invoke,  finally,  the  more  potent  powers  of  the 
bayonet. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  at  this  alarming  stage  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  ultra-abolitionists  that  I  would  seriously  invite  every  con 
siderate  man  in  the  country  solemnly  to  pause,  and  deliberately 
to  reflect,  not  merely  on  our  existing  posture,  but  upon  that 
dreadful  precipice  down  which  they  would  hurry  us.  It  is  be 
cause  these  ultra-abolitionists  have  ceased  to  employ  the  instru 
ments  of  reason  and  persuasion,  have  made  their  cause  political 
and  have  appealed  to  the  ballot  box,  that  I  am  induced,  upon' 
this  occasion  to  address  you. 

There  have  been  three  epochs  in  the  history  of  our  country  at 
which  the  spirit  of  abolition  displayed  itself.  The  first  was  im 
mediately  after  the  formation  of  the  present  federal  government 
When  the  constitution  was  about  going  into  operation,  its 
powers  were  not  well  understood  by  the  community  at  large, 
and  remained  to  be  accurately  interpreted  and  defined.  At  that 
period  numerous  abolition  societies  were  formed,  comprising  not 
merely  the  society  of  Friends,  but  many  other  good  men.  Pe 
titions  were  presented  to  Congress,  praying  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery.  They  were  received  without  serious  opposition,  re 
ferred,  and  reported  upon  by  a  committee.  The  report  stated 
that  the  general  government  had  no  power  to  abolish  slavery  as 
it  existed  in  the  several  states,  and  that  these  states  themselves 
had  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the  subject.  The  report  was 
generally  acquiesced  in,  and  satisfaction  and  tranquillity  ensued ; 
the  abolition  societies  thereafter  limiting  their  exertions,  in  re 
spect  to  the  black  population,  to  offices  of  humanity  within  the 
scope  of  existing  laws. 

The  next  period  when  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  abolition 
incidentally,  was  brought  into  notice  and  discussion,  was  that  on 
the  memorable  occasion  of  the  admission  of  the  state  of  Missouri 
into  the  Union.  The  struggle  was  long,  strenuous,  and  fearful. 
It  is  too  recent  to  make  it  necessary  to  do  more  than  merely  ad 
vert  to  it,  and  to  say,  that  it  was  finally  composed  by  one  of 
those  compromises  characteristic  of  our  institutions,  and  of  which 
the  constitution  itself  is  the  most  signal  instance. 

The  third  is  that  in  which  we  now  find  ourselves.  Various 
causes,  Mr.  President,  have  contributed  to  produce  the  existing 
excitement  on  the  subject  of  abolition.  The  principal  one  per 
haps,  is  the  example  of  British  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  the 
islands  adjacent  to  our  country.  Such  is  the  similarity  in  laws, 
in  language,  in  institutions,  and  in  common  origin,  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  that  no  great  measure  of 


368  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

i  ( 

national  policy  can  be  adopted  in  the  one  country  without  pro 
ducing  a  considerable  degree  of  influence  in  the  other.  Con 
founding  the  totally  different  cases  together,  of  the  powers  of 
the  British  parliament  and  those  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  totally  different  situations  of  the  British  West 
India  Islands,  and  the  slaves  in  the  sovereign  and  independent 
states  of  this  confederacy,  superficial  men  have  inferred  from  the 
undecided  British  experiment  the  practicability  of  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  these  states.  The  powers  of  the  British  parliament 
are  unlimited,  and  are  often  described  to  be  omnipotent.  The 
powers  of  the  American  Congress,  on  the  contrary,  are  few, 
cautiously  limited,  scrupulously  excluding  all  that  are  not  grant 
ed,  and  above  all,  carefully  and  absolutely  excluding  all  power 
over  the  existence  or  continuance  of  slavery  in  the  several  states. 
The  slaves,  too,  upon  which  British  legislation  operated,  were 
not  in  the  bosom  of  the  kingdom,  but  in  remote  and  feeble  col 
onies  having  no  voice  in  parliament.  The  West  India  slave 
holder  was  neither  represented  nor  representative  in  that  parlia- 
nent.  And  whilst  I  most  fervently  wish  complete  success  to  the 
Sritish  experiment  of  West  India  emancipation,  I  confess  that  I 
lave  fearful  forebodings  of  a  disastrous  termination  of  it.  What 
ever  it  may  be,  1  think  it  must  be  admitted  that,  if  the  British 
)arliament  had  treated  the  West  India  slaves  as  freemen,  it  also 
reated  the  West  India  freemen  as  slaves.  If,  instead  of  these 
•laves  being  separated  by  a  wide  ocean  from  the  parent  country, 
hree  or  four  millions  of  African  negro  slaves  had  been  dispersed 
>ver  England,  Scotland,  Wales,  and  Ireland,  and  their  owners 
tad  been  members  of  the  British  parliament — a  case  which 
vould  have  presented  some  analogy  to  that  of  our  own  country 
-does  any  one  believe  that  it  would  have  been  expedient  or 
practicable  to  have  emancipated  them,  leaving  them  to  remain, 
vith  all  their  embittered  feelings,  in  the  United  kingdom,  bound- 
ess  as  the  powers  of  the  British  parliament  are  ? 

Other  causes  have  conspired  with  the  British  example  to  pro- 
iuce  the  existing  excitement  from  abolition.  I  say  it  with  pro- 
bund  regret,  but  with  no  intention  to  occasion  irritation  here  or 
•Isewhere,  that  there  are  persons  in  both  parts  of  the  Union  who 
;.ave  sought  to  mingle  abolition  with  politics,  and  to  array  one 
•ortion  of  the  Union  against  the  other.  It  is  the  misfortune  in 
;-ee  countries  that,  in  high  party  times,  a  disposition  too  often 
revails  to  seize  hold  of  every  thing  which  can  strengthen  the 
ne  side  or  weaken  the  other.  Charges  of  fostering  abolition 
esigns  have  been  heedlessly  and  unjustly  made  by  one  party 
gainst  the  other.  Prior  to  the  late  election  of  the  present  Presi- 
<ent  of  the  United  States,  he  was  charged  with  being  an  aboli- 
ionist,  and  abolition  designs  were  imputed  to  many  of  his  sup- 
wrters.  Much  as  I  was  opposed  to  his  election,  and  am  to  his 
id  ministration,  I  neither  shared  in  making  nor  believing  the 
ruth  of  the  charge.  He  was  scarcely  installed  in  office  before  the 
arae  charge  was  directed  against  those  who  opposed  hie  election. 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  369 

Mr.  President,  it  is  not  true,  and  I  rejoice  that  it  is  not  true,  , 
that  either  of  the  two  great  parties  in  this  country  has  any  de 
signs  or  aim  at  abolition.  I  should  deeply  lament  if  it  were  true. 
I  should  consider,  if  it  were  true,  that  the  danger  to  the  stability 
of  our  system  would  be  infinitely  greater  than  any  which  does, 
I  hope,  actually  exist.  Whilst  neither  party  can  be,  I  think, 
justly  accused  of  any  abolition  tendency  or  purpose,  both  have 
profited,  and  both  have  been  injured,  in  particular  localities,  by 
the  accession  or  abstraction  of  abolition  support.  If  the  account 
were  fairly  stated,  I  believe  the  party  to  which  I  am  opposed 
has  profited  much  more,  and  been  injured  much  less,  than  that 
to  which  I  belong.  But  I  am  far,  for  that  reason,  from  being 
disposed  to  accuse  our  adversaries  of  being  abolitionists. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  allow  me  to  consider  the  several  ca 
ses  in  which  the  authority  of  Congress  is  invoked  by  these  abo 
lition  petitioners  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery.  The  first 
relates  to  it  as  it  exists  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  fol 
lowing  is  the  provision  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 
in  reference  to  that  matter: 

"To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever 
over  such  district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may  by 
cession  of  particular  states,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress, 
become  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United  States." 

This  provision  preceded,  in  point  of  time,  the  actual  cessions 
which  were  made  by  the  states  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The 
object  of  the  cesssion  was  to  establish  a  seat  of  government 
of  the  United  States;  and  the  grant  in  the  constitution  of  ex 
clusive  legislation  must  be  understood,  and  should  be  always 
interpreted,  as  having  relation  to  the  object  of  the  cession.  It- 
was  with  a  full  knowledge  of  this  clause  in  the  constitution  that 
those  two  states  ceded  to  the  general  government  the  ten  miles 
square,  constituting  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  making  the 
cession,  they  supposed  that  it  was  to  be  applied,  and  applied 
solely,  to  the  purposes  of  a  seat  of  government,  for  which  it  was 
asked.  When  it  was  made,  slavery  existed  in  both  those  com 
monwealths,  and  in  the  ceded  territory,  as  it  now  continues  to 
exist  in  all  of  them.  Neither  Maryland  nor  Virginia  could  have 
anticipated  that,  whilst  the  institution  remained  within  their 
respective  limits,  its  abolition  would  be  attempted  by  Congress 
without  their  consent.  Neither  of  them  would  probably  have 
made  an  unconditional  cession,  if  they  could  have  anticipated 
such  a  result. 

From  the  nature  of  the  provision  in  the  constitution,  and  the 
avowed  object  of  the  acquisition  of  the  territory,  two  duties 
arise  on  the  part  of  Congress.  The  first  is,  to  render  the  Dis 
trict  available,  comfortable  and  convenient,  as  a  seat  of  govern 
ment  of  the  whole  Union;  the  other  is,  to  govern  the  people 
within  the  district  so  as  best  to  promote  their  happiness  and 
prosperity.  These  objects  are  totally  distinct  in  their  nature, 
and,  in  interpreting  and  exercising  the  grant  of  the  power  of 


370  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

exclusive  legislation,  that  distinction  should  be  constantly  borne 
in  mind.  Is  it  necessary,  in  order  to  render  this  place  a  com 
fortable  seat  of  the  general  government,  to  abolish  slavery  within 
its  limits?  No  one  can  or  will -advance  such  a  proposition. 
The  government  has  remained  here  near  forty  years  without 
the  slightest  inconvenience  from  the  presence  of  domestic  slave 
ry.  Is  it  necessary  to  the  well  being  of  the  people  of  the  Dis 
trict  that  slavery  should  be  abolished  from  amongst  them? — 
They  not  only  neither  ask  nor  desire,  but  are  almost  unani 
mously  opposed  lo  it.  It  exists  here  in  the  mildest  and  mos* 
mitigated  form.  In  a  population  of  39,834,  there  were,  at  the 
last  enumeration  of  the  population  of  the  United  States,  but 
6,119  slaves.  The  number  has  not  probably  much  increased 
since.  They  are  dispersed  over  the  ten  miles  square,  engaged 
in  the  quiet  pursuits  of  husbandry,  or  in  menial  offices  in  domes 
tic  life.  If  it  were  necessary  to  the  efficiency  of  this  place,  as  a 
seat  of  the  general  government,  to  abolish  slavery,  which  is 
utterly  denied,  the  abolition  should  be  confined  to  the  necessity 
which  prompts  it,  that  is,  to  the  limits  of  the  city  of  Washington 
itself.  Beyond  those  limits,  persons  concerned  in  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  inhabit 
ants  of  the  District  than  they  have  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
adjacent  counties  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  which  lie  beyond 
the  District. 

To  abolish  slavery  within  the  District  of  Columbia,  whilst  it 
remains  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  situated,  as  that  District  is, 
within  the  very  heart  of  those  states,  would  expose  them  to  great 
practical  inconvenience  and  annoyance.  The  District  would 
become  a  place  of  refuge  and  escape  for  fugitive  slaves  from 
the  two  states,  and  a  place  from  which  the  spirit  of  discontent, 
insubordination  and  insurrection  might  be  fostered  and  en 
couraged  in  the  two  states.  Suppose,  as  was  at  one  time  under 
consideration,  Pennsylvania  had  granted  ten  miles  square  with 
in  its  limits,  for  the  purpose  of  a  seat  of  the  general  govern 
ment;  could  Congress,  without  a  violation  of  good  faith,  have 
introduced  and  established  slavery  within  the  bosom  of  that 
commonwealth,  in  the  ceded  territory,  after  she  had  abolished  it 
ao  long  ago  as  the  year  1780?  Yet  "the  inconvenience  to  Penn- 
gylvania  in  the  case  supposed  would  have  been  much  less  than 
that  to  Virginia  and  Maryland  in  the  case  we  were  arguing. 

It  was  upon  this  view  of  the  subject  that  the  Senate,  ^  at  its 
last  session,  solemnly  declared  that  it  would  be  a  violation  of 
implied  faith,  resulting  from  the  transaction  of  the  cession,  to 
abolish  slavery  within  the  District  of  Columbia.  And  would 
it  not  be  ?  By  implied  faith  is  meant  that,  when  a  grant  is  made 
for  one  avowed  and  declared  purpose,  known  to  the  parties,  the 
grant  should  not  be  perverted  to  another  purpose,  unavowed  and 
undeclared,  and  injurious  to  the  grantor.  The  grant,  in  the 
case  we  are  considering,  of  the  territory  of  Columbia,  was  for  a 
seat  of  government.  Whatever  power  is  necessary  to  accom- 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  371 

plish  that  .object,  is  carried  along  by  the  grant.    But  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  is  not  necessary  to  the  enjoyment  of  this  site  ae 
a  seat  of  the  general  government.     The  grant  in  the  constitu 
tion,  of  exclusive  power  of  legislation  over  the  District,  was 
made  to  ensure  the  exercise  of  an  exclusive  authority  of  the 
general  government  to  render  this  place  a  safe  and  secure  seat 
of  government,  and  to  promote  the  well  being  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  District.     The  power  granted  ought  to  be  interpreted  and 
exercised  solely  to  the  end  for  which  it  was  granted.     The  lan 
guage  of  the  grant  was  necessarily  broad,  comprehensive  and 
exclusive,  because  all  the  exigencies  which  might  arise  to  ren 
der  this  a  secure  seat  of  the  general  government  could  not  have 
been  foreseen  and  provided   for.      The   language   may  possi 
bly  be  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  include  a  power  of  abolition, 
out  it  would  not  at  all  thence  follow  that  the,  power  could  be 
rightfully  exercised.     The  case  may  be  resembled  to  that  of  a 
plenipotentiary  invested  with  a  plenary  power,  but  who,  at  the 
same  time,  has  positive  instructions  from  his  government  as  to 
the  kind  of  treaty  which  he  is  to  negotiate  and  conclude.     If  he 
violates  those  instructions,  and  concludes  a  different  treaty,  this 
government  is  not  bound  by  it.     And,  if  the  foreign  government 
is  aware  of  the  violation,  it  acts  in  bad  faith.     Or  it  may  be 
illustrated  by  an  example  drawn  from  private   life.     I  arn  an 
endorser  for  my  friend  on  a  note  discounted  in  bank.     He  ap 
plies  to  me  to  endorse  another  to  renew  it,  which  I  do  in  blank. 
Now,  this  gives  him  power  to  make  any  other  use  of  my  note 
which  he  pleases.     But  if,  instead  of  applying  it  to  the  intended 
purpose,  he  goes  to  a  broker  and  sells  it,  thereby  doubling  my 
responsibility  for  him,  he  commits  a  breach  of  trust  and  a  vio 
lation  of  the  good  faith  implied  in  the  whole  transaction. 

But,  Mr.  President,  if  this  reasoning  were  as  erroneous  as  I 
believe  it  to  be  correct  and  conclusive,  is  the  affair  of  the  libera 
tion  of  six  thousand  negro  slaves  in  this  District,  disconnected 
with  the  three  millions  of  slaves  in  the  United  States,  of  suffi 
cient  magnitude  to  agitate,  distract  and  embitter  this  great  con 
federacy? 

The  next  case  in  which  the  petitioners  ask  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  Congress,  relates  to  slavery  in  the  territory  of  Florida. 
Florida  is  the  extreme  southern  portion  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  bounded  on  all  its  land  sides  by  slave  states,  and  is  several 
hundred  miles  from  the  nearest  free  state.  It  almost  extends 
within  the  tropics,  and  the  nearest  important  island  to  it  on  the 
water  side  is  Cuba,  a  slave  island.  This  simple  statement  of  its 
geographical  position  should  of  itself  decide  the  question. — 
When,  by  the  treaty  of  1819  with  Spain,  it  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States,  slavery  existed  within  it.  By  the  terms  of  that 
treaty,  the  effects  and  property  of  the  inhabitants  are  secured  to 
them,  and  they  are  allowed  to  remove  and  take  them  away,  if 
they  think  proper  to  do  so,  without  limitation  as  to  time.  If  it 
were  expedient,  therefore,  to  abolish  slavery  in  it,  it  could  not  be 


372  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS, 

'done  consistently  with  the  treaty,  without  granting  to  the  ancient 
inhabitants  a  reasonable  time  to  remove  their  slaves.  But  further : 
By  the  compromise  which  took  place  on  the  passage  of  the  act 
for  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  Union,  in  the  year  1820,  it: 
was  agreed  and  understood  that  the  line  of  36  deg.  30  min.  of 
north  latitude  should  mark  the  boundary  between  the  free  states 
and  the  slave  states  to  be  created  in  the  territories  of  the  United 
States  ceded  by  the  treaty  of  Louisiana ;  those  situated  south 
of  it  being  slave  states,  and  those  north  of  it,  free  states.  But 
Florida  is  south  of  that  line,  and  consequently,  according  to  the 
spirit  of  the  understanding  which  prevailed  at  the  period  alluded 
to,  should  be  a  slave  state.  It  may  be  true  that  the  compromise 
does  not  in  terms  embrace  Florida,  and  that  it  is  not  absolutely 
binding  and  obligatory;  but  all  candid  and  impartial  men  must 
agree  that  it  ought  not  to  be  disregarded  without  the  most 
weighty  considerations,  and  that  nothing  could  be  more  to  be 
deprecated  than  to  open  anew  the  bleeding  wounds  which  were 
happily  bound  up  and  healed  by  that  compromise.  Florida  is 
the  only  remaining  territory  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with 
the  institution  of  domestic  slavery,  while  Wisconsin  and  Iowa 
are  now  nearly  ripe  for  admission  without  it. 

The  next  instance  in  which  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  Con 
gress  is  solicited,  is  that  of  prohibiting  what  is  denominated  by 
the  petitioners  the  dave  trade  between  the  states,  or,  as  it  is  de 
scribed  in  abolition  petitions,  the  traffic  in  human  beings  between 
the  states.  This  exercise  of  the  power  of  Congress  is  claimed 
under  that  clause  of  the  constitution  which  invests  it  with  au 
thority  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among 
the  several  states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes.  The  power  to 
regulate  commerce  among  the  several  states,  like  other  powers 
in  the  constitution,  has  hitherto  remained  dormant  in  respect  to  the 
interior  trade  by  land  between  the  states.  It  was  a  power  granted 
like  all  the  other  powers  of  the  general  government,  to  secure 
peace  and  harmony  among  the  states.  Hitherto  it  has  not  been 
necessary  to  exercise  it.  All  the  cases  in  which,  during  the  pro 
gress  of  time  it  may  become  expedient  to  exert  the  general  au 
thority  to  regulate  commerce  between  the  states,  cannot  be  con 
ceived.  We  may  easily  imagine,  however,  contingencies  which, 
if  they  were  to  happen,  might  require  the  interposition  of  the 
common  authority.  If.  for  example,  the  state  of  Ohio  were,  by 
law,  to  prohibit  any  vessel  entering  the  port  of  Cincinnati,  from 
the  port  of  Louisville,  in  Kentucky,  if  that  case  be  not  already 
provided  for  by  the  laws  which  regulate  our  coasting  trade,  it 
would  be  competent  to  the  general  government  to  annul  the 
prohibition  emanating  from  state  authority.  Or,  ifthe  state  of 
Kentucky  were  to  prohibit  the  introduction,  within  its  limits,  of 
any  articles  of  trade,  the  production  of  the  industry  of  the  in 
habitants  of  the  state  of  Ohio,  the  general  government  might, 
by  its  authority,  supersede  the  Btate  enactment.  But  I  deny  that 
the  general  government  has  any  authority,  whatever,  from  the 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  373 

constitution,  to  abolish  what  is  called  the  slave  trade,  or,  in 
other  words,  to  prohibit  the  removal  of  slaves  from  one  slave 
state  to  another  slave  state. 

The  grant  in  the  constitution  is  of  a  power  of  regulation,  and 
not  prohibition.  It  is  conservative,  not  destructive.  Regulation 
ex  vi  termini  implies  the  continued  existence  or  prosecution  of 
the  thing  regulated.  Prohibition  implies  total  discontinuance 
or  annihilation.  The  regulation  intended  was  designed  to  facil 
itate  and  accommodate,  not  to  obstruct  and  incommode  the  com 
merce  to  be  regulated.  Can  it  be  pretended  that,  under  this 
power  to  regulate  commerce  among  the  states,  Congress  has 
the  power  to  prohibit  the  transportation  of  live  stock  which,  in 
countless  numbers,  are  daily  passing  from  the  western  and  in 
terior  states  to  the  southern,  southwestern,  and  Atlantic  states? 
The  moment  the  incontestible  fact  is  admitted,  that  negro  slaves 
are  property,  the  law  of  moveable  property  irresistibly  attaches 
itself  to  them,  and  secures  the  right  of  carrying  them  from  one 
to  another  state,  where  they  are  recognized  as  property,  without 
any  hindrance  whatever  from  Congress. 

But,  Mr.  President,  I  will  not  detain  the  Senate  longer  on  the 
subjects  of  slavery  'within  the  district  and  in  Florida,  and  of  the 
right  of  Congress  to  prohibit  the  removal  of  slaves  from  one 
state  to  another.  These,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  with  ultra 
abolitionists  are  but  so  many  masked  batteries,  concealing  the 
real  and  ultimate  point  of  attack.  That  point  of  attack  is  the 
Institution  of  domestic  slavery  as  it  exists  in  these  states.  It  is 
to  liberate  three  millions  of  slaves  held  in  bondage  within  them. 
And  now  allow  me,  sir,  to  glance  at  the  insurmountable  ob 
stacles  which  lie  in  the  way  of  the  accomplishment  of  this  end, 
and  at  some  of  the  consequences  which  would  ensue  if  it  were 
possible  to  attain  it. 

The  first  impediment  is  the  utter  and  absolute  want  of  all 
power  on  the  part  of  the  general  government  to  effect  the  pur 
pose.  The  constitution  of  the  United  States  creates  a  limited 
government,  comprising  comparitively  few  powers,  and  leaving 
the  residuary  mass  of  political  power  in  the  possession  of  the 
several  states.  It  is  well  known  that  the  subject  of  slavery  in 
terposed  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  formation  of  the 
constitution.  It  was  happily  compromised  and  adjusted  in  a 
spirit  of  harmony  and  patriotism.  According  to  that  compro 
mise,  no  power  whatever  was  granted  to  the  general  govern 
ment  in  respect  to  domestic  slavery,  but  that  which  relates  to 
taxation  and  representation,  and  the  power  to  restore  fugitive 
slaves  to  their  lawful  owners.  All  other  power  in  regard  to  the 
institution  of  slavery  was  retained  exclusively  by  the  states,  to 
be  exercised  by  them  severally,  according  to  their  respective 
views  of  their  own  peculiar  interest.  The  constitution  of  the 
United  States  never  could  have  been  formed  upon  the  principle 
of  investing  the  general  government  with  authority  to  abolish 
32 


374  ON   ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

the  institution  at  its  pleasure.     It  never  can  be  continued  for  a 
single  day  if  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  be  assumed  or  usurped. 

But  it  may  be  contended  by  these  ultra-abolitionists  that  their 
object  is  not  to  stimulate  the  action  of  the  general  government, 
but  to  operate  upon  the  states  themselves  in  which  the  institu 
tion  of  domestic  slavery  exists.  If  that  be  their  object,  why  are 
these  abolition  societies  and  movements  all  confined  to  the  free 
states?  Why  are  the  slave  states  wantonly  and  cruelly  assailed? 
Why  do  the  abolition  presses  teem  with  publications  tending  to  ex 
cite  hatred  and  animosity  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  free 
states  against  those  of  the  slave  states  ?  Why  is  Congress  peti 
tioned  ?  The  free  states  have  no  more  power  or  right  to  interfere 
with  institutions  in  the  slave  states,  conh'ded  to  the  exclusive  juris 
diction  of  those  states,  than  they  would  have  to  interfere  with  in 
stitutions  existing  in  any  foreign  country.  What  would  be 
thought  of  the  formation  of  societies  in  Great  Britain,  the  issue 
of  numerous  inflammatory  publications,  and  the  sending  out  of 
lecturers  throughout  the  kingdom,  denouncing  and  aiming  at 
the  destruction  of  any  of  the  institutions  of  France  ?  Would 
they  be  regarded  as  proceedings  warranted  by  good  neighbor 
hood?  Or  what  would  be  thought  of  the  formation  of  societies 
in  the  slave  states,  the  issuing  of  violent  and  inflammatory  tracts, 
and  the  deputation  of  missionaries,  pouring  out  impassioned  de 
nunciations  against  institutions  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the 
free  states  ?  Is  their  purpose  to  appeal  to  our  understandings, 
and  to  actuate  our  humanity  ?  And  do  they  expect  to  accom 
plish  that  purpose  by  holding  us  up  to  the  scorn,  and  contempt, 
and  detestation  of  the  people  of  the  free  states  and  the  whole 
civilized  world  ?  The  slavery  which  exists  amongst  us  is  our 
affair,  not  theirs ;  and  they  have  no  more  just  concern  with  it 
than  they  have  with  slavery  as  it  exists  throughout  the  world. 
Why  not  leave  it  to  us,  as  the  common  constitution  of  our 
country  has  left  it,  to  be  dealt  with,  under  the  guidance  of  Prov 
idence,  as  best  we  may  or  can  ? 

The  next  obstacle  in  the  way  of  abolition  arises  out  of  the 
fact  of  the  presence  in  the  slave  states  of  three  millions  of  slaves. 
They  are  there,  dispersed  throughout  the  land,  part  and  parcel 
of  our  population.  They  were  brought  into  the  country  original 
ly  under  the  authority  of  the  parent  government  whilst  we  were 
colonies,  arid  their  importation  was  continued  in  spite  of  all  the 
remonstrances  of  our  ancestors.  If  the  question  were  an  original 
question,  whether,  there  being  no  slaves  within  the  country,  we 
should  introduce  them,  and  incorporate  them  into  our  society, 
that  would  be  a  totally  different  question.  Few,  if  any,  of  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  would  be  found  to  favor  their  intro 
duction.  No  man  in  it  would  oppose,  upon  that  supposition, 
their  admission  with  more  determined  resolution  and  conscien 
tious  repugnance  than  I  should.  But  that  is  not  the  question. 
The  slaves  are  here ;  no  practical  scheme  for  their  removal  or 
separation  from  us  has  been  yet  devised  or  proposed;  and  the 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  375 

true  inquiry  is,  what  is  best  to  be  done  with  them.  In  human 
affairs  we  are  often  constrained,  by  the  force  of  circumstances 
and  the  actual  state  of  things,  to  do  what  we  would  not  do  if 
that  state  of  things  did  not  exist.  The  slaves  are  here,  and  here 
must  remain,  in  some  condition  ;  and,  I  repeat,  how  are  they  to 
be  best  governed  ?  What  is  best  to  be  done  for  their  happiness 
and  our  own?  In  the  slave  states  the  alternative  is,  that  the 
white  man  must  govern  the  black,  or  the  black  govern  the 
white.  In  several  of  those  states,  the  number  of  the  slaves  is 
greater  than  that  of  the  white  population.  An  immediate  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  them,  as  these  ultra  abolitionists  propose, 
would  be  folio  wed  by  a  desperate  struggle  for  immediate  ascen 
dancy  of  the  black  race  over  the  white  race,  or  rather  it  would 
be  followed  by  instantaneous  collisions  between  the  two  races, 
which  would  break  out  into  a  civil  war  that  would  end  in  the  ex 
termination  or  subjugation  of  the  one  race  or  the  other.  In  such 
an  alternative,  who  can  hesitate  ?  Is  it  not  better  for  both  par 
ties  that  the  existing  state  of  things  should  be  preserved,  instead 
of  exposing  them  to  the  horrible  strifes  and  contests  which 
would  inevitably  attend  an  immediate  abolition  ?  This  is  our 
true  ground  of  defence  for  the  continued  existence  of  slavery  in 
our  country.  It  is  that  which  our  revolutionary  ancestors  as 
sumed.  It  is  that  which,  in  my  opinion,  forms  our  justification 
in  the  eyes  of  all  Christendom. 

A  third  impediment  to  immediate  abolition  is  to  be  found  in 
the  immense' amount  of  capital  which  is  invested  in  slave  pro 
perty.  The  total  number  of  slaves  in  the  United  States,  accor 
ding  to  the  last  enumeration  of  the  population,  was  a  little  up 
wards  of  two  millions.  Assuming  their  increase  at  a  ratio, 
which  it  probably  is,  of  five  per  cent,  per  annum,  their  present 
number  would  be  three  millions.  The  average  value  of  slaves 
at  this  time  is  stated  by  persons  well  informed  to  be  as  high  as 
five  hundred  dollars  each.  To  be  certainly  within  the  mark,  let 
us  suppose  that  it  is  only  four  hundred  dollars.  The  total  value, 
then,  by  that  estimate,  of  the  slave  property  in  the  United  States 
is  twelve  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  This  property  is  diffused 
throughout  all  classes  and  conditions  of  society.  It  is  owned  by 
widows  and  orphans,  by  the  aged  and  infirm,  as  well  as  the 
sound  and  vigorous.  It,  is  the  subject  of  mortgages,  deeds  of 
trust,  and  family  settlements.  It  has  been  made  the  basis  of 
numerous  debts  contracted  upon  its  faith,  and  is  the  sole  reliance, 
in  many  instances,  of  creditors  within  and  without  the  slave 
states,  for  the  payment  of  the  debts  due  to  them.  And  now  it  is 
rashly  proposed,  by  a  single  fiat  of  legislation,  to  annihilate  this 
immense  amount  of  property  !  To  annihilate  it  without  indem 
nity  and  without  compensation  to  its  owners !  Does  any  con 
siderate  man  believe  it  to  be  possible  to  effect  such  an  object 
without  convulsion,  revolution,  and  bloodshed  ? 

I  know  that  there  is  a  visionary  dogma,  which  holds  that  ne 
gro  slaves  cannot  be  the  subject  of  property.  I  shall  not  dwell 


376  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

long  on  this  speculative  abstraction.  That  is  property  which 
the  law  declares  to  be  property.  Two  hundred  years  of  legisla 
tion  have  sanctioned  and  sanctified  negro  slaves  as  property. 
Under  all  the  forms  of  government  which  have  existed  upon  this 
continent  during  that  long  space  of  time — under  the  British  gov 
ernment — under  the  colonial  government — under  all  the  state  con 
stitutions  and  governments — and  under  the  Federal  government 
itself — they  have  been  deliberately  and  solemnly  recognized  as 
the  legitimate  subjects  of  property.  To  the  wild  speculations  of 
theorists  and  innovators  stands  opposed  the  fact,  that  in  an  unin 
terrupted  period  of  two  hundred  years'  duration,  under  every 
form  of  human  legislation,  and  by  all  the  departments  of  human 
government,  African  negro  slaves  have  been  held  and  respected, 
have  descended  and  been  transferred,  as  lawful  and  indisputable 
property.  They  were  treated  as  property  in  the  very  British  ex 
ample  which  is  so  triumphantly  appealed  to  as  worthy  of  our  imita 
tion.  Although  the  West  India  planters  had  no  voice  in  the  united 
parliament  of  the  British  Isles,  an  irresistible  sense  of  justice  ex 
torted  from  that  legislature  the  grant  of  twenty  millions  of  pounds 
sterling  to  compensate  the  colonists  for  their  loss  of  property. 

If,  therefore,  these  ultra  abolitionists  are  seriously  determined 
to  pursue  their  immediate  scheme  of  abolition,  they  should  at 
once  set  about  raising  a  fund  of  twelve  hundred  millions  of  dol 
lars,  to  indemnify  the  owners  of  slave  property.  And  the  taxes 
to  raise  that  enormous  amount  can  only  be  justly  assessed  upon 
themselves  or  upon  the  free  states,  if  they  can  persuade  them  to 
assent  to  such  an  assessment ;  for  it  would  be  a  mockery  of  all 
justice  and  an  outrage  against  all  equity  to  levy  any  portion  of 
ihe  tax  upon  the  slave  states  to  pay  for  their  own  unquestioned 
property. 

If  the  considerations  to  which  I  have  already  adverted  are  not 
sufficient  to  dissuade  the  abolitionists  from  further  perseverance 
in  their  designs,  the  interest  of  the  very  cause  which  they  profess 
to  espouse  ought  to  check  their  career.  Instead  of  advancing, 
by  their  efforts,  that  cause,  they  have  thrown  back  for  half  a 
century  the  prospect  of  any  species  of  emancipation  of  the 
African  race,  gradual  or  immediate  in  any  of  the  states.  They 
have  done  more ;  they  have  increased  the  rigors  of  legislation 
against  slaves  in  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  slave  states.  Forty  years 
ago  the  question  was  agitated  in  the  state  of  Kentucky  of  a 
gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves  within  its  limits.  By  gradual 
emancipation,  I  mean  that  slow  but  safe  and  cautious  liberation 
of  slaves  which  was  first  adopted  in  Pennsylvania  at  the  instance 
of  Dr.  Franklin,  in  the  year  1780,  and  according  to  which,  the 
generation  in  being  were  to  remain  in  slavery,  but  all  their  off 
spring  born  after  a  specified  day  were  to  be  i'ree  at  the  age  of 
twenty-eight,  and,  in  the  mean  time,  were  to  receive  preparatory 
instruction  to  qualify  them  for  the  enjoyment  of  freedom.  That 
was  the  species  of  emancipation  which,  at  the  epoch  to  which  I 
allude,  was  discussed  in  Kentucky.  No  one  was  rash  enough  to 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  377 

propose  to  think  of  immediate  abolition.  No  one  was  rash  enough 
to  think  of  thro  wing  loose  upon  the  community,  ignorant  and  un 
prepared,  the  untutored  slaves  of  the  state.  Many  thought,  and 
I  amongst  them,  that  as  each  of  the  slave  states  had  a  right  ex 
clusively  to  judge  for  itself  in  respect  to  the  institution  of  domes 
tic  slavery,  the  proportion  of  slaves  compared  with  the  white 
population  in  that  state,  at  that  time,  was  so  inconsiderable  that 
a  system  of  gradual  emancipation  might  have  been  safely 
adopted  without  any  hazard  to  the  security  and  interests  of  the 
commonwealth.  And  I  still  think  that  the  question  of  such 
emancipation  in  the  farming  states  is  one  whose  solution  depends 
upon  the  relative  numbers  of  the  two  races  in  any  given  state. 
If  I  had  been  a  citizen  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  when 
Franklin's  plan  was  adopted,  I  should  have  voted  for  it,  because 
by  no  possibility  could  the  black  race  ever  acquire  the  ascend 
ancy  in  that  state.  But  if  I  had  been  then,  or  were  now,  a  citi 
zen  of  any  of  the  planting  states — the  southern  or  southwestern 
states — I  should  have  opposed,  and  would  continue  to  oppose, 
any  scheme  whatever  of  emancipation,  gradual  or  immediate, 
because  of  the  danger  of  an  ultimate  ascendancy  of  the  black 
race,  or  of  a  civil  contest  which  might  terminate  in  the  extinc 
tion  of  one  race  or  the  other. 

The  proposition  in  Kentucky  for  a  gradual  emancipation  did 
not  prevail,  but  it  was  sustained  by  a  large  and  respectable  mi 
nority.  That  minority  had  increased  and  was  increasing,  until 
the  abolitionists  commenced  their  operations.  The  effect  has 
been  to  dissipate  all  prospects  whatever,  for  the  present,  of  any 
scheme  of  gradual  or  other  emancipation.  The  people  of  that 
etate  have  becomfi  shocked  and  alarmed  by  these  abolition  move 
ments,  and  the  number  who  would  now  favor  a  system  even  of 
gradual  emancipation  is  probably  less  than  it  was  in  the  years 
1798-'9.  At  the  session  of  the  Legislature  held  in  1837-'8,  the 
question  of  calling  a  Convention  was  submitted  to  the  considera 
tion  of  the  people  by  a  law  passed  in  conformity  with  the  con 
stitution  of  the  state.  Many  motives  existed  for  the  passage  of 
the  law,  and,  among  them,  that  of  emancipation  had  its  influ 
ence.  When  the  question  was  passed  upon  by  the  people  at 
their  last  annual  election,  only  about  one-fourth  of  the  whole 
voters  of  the  state  supported  a  call  of  a  Convention.  The  ap 
prehension  of  the  danger  of  abolition  was  the  leading  considera 
tion  amongst  the  people  for  opposing  the  call.  But  for  that,  but 
for  the  agitation  of  the  question  of  abolition  in  states  whose  popu 
lation  had  no  right,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people  of  Kentucky, 
to  interfere  in  the  matter,  the  vote  for  a  Convention  would  have 
been  much  larger,  if  it  had  not  been  carried.  I  felt  myself  con- 
etrained  to  take  immediate,  bold  and  decided  ground  against  it 

Prior  to  the  agitation  of  this  subject  of  abolition,  there  was  a 
progressive  melioration  in  the  condition  of  slaves  throughout  all 
the  slave  states.  In  some  of  them,  schools  of  instruction  were 
32* 


378  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

opened  by  humane  and  religious  persons.  These  are  all  now 
checked,  and  a  spirit  of  insubordination  having  shown  itself  in 
some  localities,  traceable,  it  is  believed,  to  abolition  movements 
and  exertions,  the  legislative  authority  has  found  it  expedient  to 
infuse  fresh  vigor  into  the  police,  and  laws  which  regulate  the 
conduct  of  the  slaves. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  if  it  were  possible  to  overcome  the 
inaurmountable  obstacles  which  lie  in  the  way  of  immediate 
abolition,  let  us  briefly  contemplate  some  of  the  consequences 
which  would  inevitably  ensue.  One  of  these  has  been  occa-1 
sionally  alluded  to  in  the  progress  of  these  remarks.  It  is  the 
struggle  which  would  instantaneously  arise  between  the  two 
races  in  most  of  the  southern  and  south-western  states.  And 
what  a  dreadful  struggle  would  it  not  be !  Embittered  by  all 
the  recollections  of  the  past,  by  the  unconquerable  prejudices 
which  would  prevail  between  the  two  races,  and  stimulated  by 
all  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  future,  it  would  be  a  contest  in 
which  the  extermination  of  the  blacks,  or  their  ascendancy  over 
the  whites,  would  be  the  sole  alternative.  Prior  to  the  conclu 
sion,  or  during  the  progress  of  such  a  contest,  vast  numbers, 
probably,  of  the  black  race  would  migrate  into  the  free  states; 
and  what  effect  would  such  a  migration  have  upon  the  laboring 
classes  in  those  states ! 

Now  the  distribution  of  labor  in  the  United  States  is  geo 
graphical  ;  the  free  laborers  occupying  one  side  of  the  line,  and 
the  slave  laborers  the  other ;  each  class  pursuing  its  own  avoca 
tions  almost  altogether  unmixed  with  the  other.  But,  on  the 
supposition  of  immediate  abolition,  the  black  class,  migrating 
into  the  free  states,  would  enter  into  competition  with  the  white 
class,  diminishing  the  wages  of  their  labor,  and  augmenting  the 
hardships  of  their  condition. 

This  is  not  all.  The  abolitionists  strenuously  oppose  all  sepa 
ration  of  the  two  races.  I  confess  to  you,  sir,  that  I  have  seen 
with  regret,  grief  and  astonishment,  their  resolute  opposition  to 
the  project  of  colonization.  No  scheme  was  ever  presented  to 
the  acceptance  of  man,  which,  whether  it  be  entirely  practicable 
or  not,  is  characterized  by  more  unmixed  humanity  and  benevo 
lence,  than  that  of  transporting,  with  their  own  consent,  the  free 
people  of  color  in  the  United  States  to  the  land  of  their  ances 
tors.  It  has  the  powerful  recommendation  that  whatever  it  does 
is  good;  and,  if  it  effects  nothing,  it  inflicts  no  one  evil  or  mis 
chief  upon  any  portion  of  our  society.  There  is  no  necessary 
hostility  between  the  objects  of  colonization  and  abolition.  Colo 
nization  deals  only  with  the  free  man  of  color,  and  that  with  his 
own  free  voluntary  consent.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  slavery. 
It  disturbs  no  man's  property,  seeks- to  impair  no  power  in  the 
slave  states,  nor  to  attribute  any  to  the  general  government. 
All  its  action  and  all  its  ways  and  means  are  voluntary,  depend 
ing  upon  the  blessing  of  Providence,  which  hitherto  has  gra 
ciously  smiled  upon  it.  And  yet,  beneficent  and  harmless  aa 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  379 

colonization  is,  no  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  de 
nounces  it  with  so  much  persevering  zeal  and  such  unmixed 
bitterness  as  do  the  abolitionists. 

They  put  themselves  in  direct  opposition  to  any  separation 
whatever  between  the  two  races.  They  would  keep  them  for 
ever  pent  up  together  within  the  same  limits,  perpetuating  their 
animosities,  and  constantly  endangering  the  peace  of  the  com 
munity.  They  proclaim,  indeed,  that  color  is  nothing ;  that  the 
organic  and  characteristic  differences  between  the  two  races 
ought  to  be  entirely  overlooked  and  disregarded.  And,  eleva 
ting  themselves  to  a  sublime  but  impracticable  philosophy,  they 
would  teach  us  to  eradicate  all  the  repugnances  of  our  nature, 
and  to  take  to  our  bosoms  and  our  boards  the  black  man  as  we 
do  the  white,  on  the  same  footing  of  equal  social  condition.  Do 
they  not  perceive  that  in  thus  confounding  all  the  distinctions 
which  God  himself  has  made,  they  arraign  the  wisdom  and 
goodness  of  Providence  itself?  It  has  been  his  divine  pleasure 
to  make  the  black  man  black,  and  the  white  man  white,  and  to 
distinguish  them  by  other  repulsive  constitutional  differences. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  maintain,  nor  shall  I  endeavor  to 
prove,  that  it  was  any  part  of  his  divine  intention  that  the  one 
race  should  be  held  in  perpetual  bondage  by  the  other ;  but  this 
I  will  say,  that  those  whom  he  has  created  different,  and  has 
declared,  by  their  physical  structure  and  color,  ought  to  be  kept 
asunder,  should  not  be  brought  together  by  any  process  whatever 
of  unnatural  amalgamation. 

But  if  the  dangers  of  the  civil  contest  which  1  have  supposed 
could  be  avoided,  separation  or  amalgamation  is  the  only  peace 
ful  alternative,  if  it  were  possible  to  effectuate  the  project  of 
abolition.  The  abolitionists  oppose  all  colonization,  and  it  irre 
sistibly  follows,  whatever  they  may  protest  or  declare,  that  they 
are  in  favor  of  amalgamation.  And  who  are  to  bring  about  this 
amalgamation  ?  I  have  heard  of  none  of  these  ultra  abolition 
ists  furnishing  in  their  own  families  or  persons  examples  of  in 
termarriage.  Who  is  to  begin  it?  Is  it  their  purpose  not  only 
to  create  a  pinching  competition  between  black  labor  and  white 
labor,  but  do  they  intend  also  to  contaminate  the  industrious  and 
laboring  classes  of  society  at  the  north,  by  a  revolting  admixture 
of  the  black  element  ? 

It  is  frequently  asked,  what  is  to  become  of  the  African  race 
among  us?  Are  they  forever  to  remain  in  bondage?  That 
question  was  asked  more  than  half  a  century  ago.  It  has  been 
answered  by  fifty  years  of  prosperity  but  little  chequered  from 
this  cause.  It  will  be  repeated  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  hence. 
The  true  answer  is,  that  the  same  Providence  who  has  hitherto 
guided  and  governed  us,  and  averted  all  serious  evils  from  the 
existing  relation  between  the  two  races,  will  guide  and  govern 
our  posterity.  Sufficient  to  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof.  We 
have  hitherto,  with  that  blessing,  taken  care  of  ourselves.  Pos 
terity  will  find  the  means  of  its  own  preservation  and  prosperity. 


380  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

It  is  only  in  the  most  direful  event  which  can  befal  this  people 
that  this  great  interest,  and  all  other  of  our  greatest  interests, 
would  be  put  in  jeopardy.  Although  in  particular  districts  the 
black  population  is  gaining  upon  the  white,  it  only  constitutes 
one-fifth  of  the  whole  population  of  the  United  States.  And, 
taking  the  aggregates  of  the  two  races,  the  European  is  con 
stantly,  though  slowly,  gaining  upon  the  African  portion.  This 
fact  is  demonstrated  by  the  periodical  returns  of  our  population. 
Let  us  cease,  then,  to  indulge  in  gloomy  forebodings  about  the 
impenetrable  future.  But,  if  we  may  attempt  to  lift  the  veil, 
and  contemplate  what  lies  beyond  it,  I,  too,  have  ventured  on 
a  speculative  theory,  with  which  I  will  not  now  trouble  you,  but 
which  has  been  published  to  the  world.  According  to  that,  in 
the  progress  of  time,  some  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred 
years  hence,  but  few  vestiges  of  the  black  race  will  remain 
among  our  posterity. 

Mr.  President,  at  the  period  of  the  formation  of  our  constitu 
tion,  and  afterwards,  our  patriotic  ancestors  apprehended  dan 
ger  to  the  Union  from  two  causes.  One  was,  the  Alleghany 
mountains,  dividing  the  waters  which  flow  into  the  Atlantic 
ocean  from  those  which  found  their  outlet  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
They  seemed  to  present  a  natural  separation.  That  danger  has 
vanished  before  the  noble  achievements  of  the  spirit  of  internal 
improvement,  and  the  immortal  genius  of  Fulton.  And  now, 
no  where  is  found  a  more  loyal  attachment  to  the  Union  than 
among  those  very  western  people,  who,  it  was  apprehended, 
would  be  the  first  to  burst  its  ties. 

The  other  cause,  domestic  slavery,  happily  the  sole  remaining 
cause  which  is  likely  to  disturb  our  harmony,  continues  to  exist. 
It  was  this  which  created  the  greatest  obstacle  and  the  most  anx 
ious  solicitude  in  the  deliberations  of  the  convention  that  adopted 
the  general  constitution.  And  it  is  this  subject  that  has  ever  been 
regarded  with  the  deepest  anxiety  by  all  who  are  sincerely  desi 
rous  of  the  permanency  of  our  Union.  The  father  of  his  country, 
in  his  last  affecting  and  solemn  appeal  to  his  fellow-citizens,  de 
precated,  as  a  most  calamitous  event,  the  geographical  divisions 
which  it  might  produce.  The  convention  wisely  left  to  the  sev 
eral  states  the  power  over  the  institution  of  slavery,  as  a  power 
not  necessary  to  the  plan  of  union  which  it  devised,  and  as  one 
with  which  the  general  government  could  not  be  invested  with 
out  planting  the  seeds  of  certain  destruction.  There  let  it  remain 
undisturbed  by  any  unhallowed  hand. 

Sir,  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  speaking  lightly  of  the  possibility 
of  dissolving  this  happy  Union.  The  Senate  knows  that  I  have 
deprecated  allusions,  on  ordinary  occasions,  to  that  direful  event. 
The  country  will  testify  that,  if  there  be  any  thing  in  the  history 
of  my  public  career  worthy  of  recollection,  it  is  the  truth  and  sin 
cerity  of  my  ardent  devotion  to  its  lasting  preservation.  But  we 
should  be  false  in  our  allegiance  to  it,  if  we  did  not  discriminate 
between  the  imaginary  and  real  dangers  by  which  it  may  be  as- 


ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  •      381 

sailed.  Abolition  should  no  longer  be  regarded  as  an  imaginary 
danger.  The  abolitionists,  let  me  suppose,  succeed  in  their  pre 
sent  aim  of  uniting  the  inhabitants  of  the  free  states  as  one  man, 
against  the  inhabitants  of  the  slave  states.  Union  on  the  one 
side  will  beget  union  on  the  other.  And  this  process  of  recipro 
cal  consolidation  will  be  attended  with  all  the  violent  prejudices, 
embittered  passions,  and  implacable  animosities  which  ever  de 
graded  or  deformed  human  nature.  A  virtual  dissolution  of  the 
Union  will  have  taken  place,  whilst  the  forms  of  its  existence  re 
main.  The  most  valuable  element  of  union,  mutual  kindness,  the 
feelings  of  sympathy,  the  fraternal  bonds,  which  now  happily 
unite  us,  will  have  been  extinguished  forever.  One  section  will 
stand  in  menacing  and  hostile  array  against  the  other.  The  col 
lision  of  opinion  will  be  quickly  followed  by  the  clash  of  arms.  I 
will  not  attempt  to  describe  scenes  which  now  happily  lie  con 
cealed  from  our  view.  Abolitionists  themselves  would  shrink 
back  in  dismay  and  horror  at  the  contemplation  of  desolated 
fields,  conflagrated  cities,  murdered  inhabitants,  and  the  over 
throw  of  the  fairest  fabric  of  human  government  that  ever  rose 
to  animate  the  hopes  of  civilized  man.  Nor  should  these  aboli 
tionists  flatter  themselves  that,  if  they  can  succeed  in  their  object 
of  uniting  the  people  of  the  free  states,  they  will  enter  the  contest 
with,  a  numerical  superiority  that  must  ensure  victory.  All  his 
tory  and  experience  proves  the  hazard  and  uncertainty  of  \var. 
And  we  are  admonished  by  holy  writ  that  the  race  is  not  to  the 
swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong.  But  if  they  were  to  conquer, 
whom  would  they  conquer?  A  foreign  foe — one  who  had  insult 
ed  our  flag,  invaded  our  shores,  and  laid  our  country  waste  ? 
No,  sir;  no,  sir.  It  would  be  a  conquest  without  laurels,  without 
glory — a  self,  a  suicidal  conquest — a  conquest  of  brothers  over 
brothers,  achieved  by  one  over  another  portion  of  the  descend 
ants  of  common  ancestors,  who,  nobly  pledging  their  lives,  their 
fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor,  had  fought  and  bled,  side  by 
side,  in  many  a  hard  battle  on  land  and  ocean,  severed  our  coun 
try  from  the  British  crown,  and  established  our  national  indepen 
dence. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  slave  states  are  sometimes  accused  by 
their  northern  brethren  with  displaying  too  much  rashness  and 
sensibility  to  the  operations  and  proceedings  of  abolitionists. 
But,  before  they  can  be  rightly  judged,  there  should  be  a  rever 
sal  of  conditions.  Let  me  suppose  that  the  people  of  the  slave 
states  were  to  form  societies,  subsidize  presses,  make  large  pe 
cuniary  contributions,  send  forth  numerous  missionaries  through 
out  all  their  own  borders,  and  enter  into  machinations  to  burn 
the  beautiful  capitals,  destroy  the  productive  manufactories,  and 
sink  in  the  ocean  the  gallant  ships  of  the  northern  states.  Would 
these  incendiary  proceedings  be  regarded  as  neighborly  and 
friendly,  and  consistent  with  the  fraternal  sentiments  which  should 
ever  be  cherished  by  one  portion  ^f  the  Union  towards  another? 
«ite  no  emotion?  Occasion  no  manifestations  of 


382  ON  ABOLITION  PETITIONS, 

dissatisfaction,  nor  lead  to  any  acts  of  retaliatory  violence  1  But 
the  supposed  'case  falls  far  short  of  the  actual  one  in  a  most  es 
sential  circumstance.  In  no  contingency  could  these  capitals, 
manufactories,  and  ships  rise  in  rebellion  and  massacre  inhabi 
tants  of  the  northern  states. 

I  am,  Mr.  President,  no  friend  of  slavery.  The  searcher  of  all 
hearts  knows  that  every  pulsation  of  mine  beats  high  and  strong 
in  the  cause  of  civil  liberty.  Wherever  it  is  safe  and  practica 
ble,  I  desire  to  see  every  portion  of  the  human  family  in  the  en 
joyment  of  it.  But  I  prefer  the  liberty  of  my  own  country  to 
that  of  any  other  people ;  and  the  liberty  of  my  own  race  to  that 
of  any  other  race.  The  liberty  of  the  descendants  of  Africa  in 
the  United  States  is  incompatible  with  the  safety  and  liberty  of 
the  European  descendants.  Their  slavery  forms  an  exception 
— an  exception  resulting  from  a  stern  and  inexorable  necessity—- 
to  the  general  liberty  in  the  United  States.  We  did  not  origi 
nate,  nor  are  we  responsible  for,  this  necessity.  Their  liberty, 
if  it  were  possible,  could  only  be  established  by  violating  the  in 
contestable  powers  of  the  states,  and  subverting  the  Union.  And 
beneath  the  ruins  of  the  Union  would  be  buried,  sooner  or  later? 
the  liberty  of  both  races. 

But  if  one  dark  spot  exists  on  our  political  horizon,  is.  it  not 
obscured  by  the  bright  and  effulgent  and  cheering  light  that 
beams  all  around  us  ?  Was  ever  a  people  before  so  blessed  as 
we  are,  if  true  to  ourselves?  Did  ever  any  other  nation  contain 
within  its  bosom  so  many  elements  of  prosperity,  of  greatness,, 
and  of  glory?  Our  only  real  danger  lies  ahead,  conspicuous, 
elevated,  and  visible.  It  was  clearly  discerned  at  the  com 
mencement,  and  distinctly  seen  throughout  our  whole  career. — 
Shall  we  wantonly  run  upon  it,  and  destroy  all  the  glorious  anti 
cipations  of  the  high  destiny  that  awaits  us  ?  I  beseech  the  abo 
litionists  themselves  solemnly  to  pause  in  their  mad  and  fatal 
course.  Amidst  the  infinite  variety  of  objects  of  humanity  and  be 
nevolence  which  invite  the  employment  of  their  energies,  let  them 
select  some  one  more  harmless,  that  does  not  threaten  to  deluge 
our  country  in  blood.  I  call  upon  that  small  portion  of  the  cler 
gy,  which  has  lent  itself  to  these  wild  and  ruinous  schemes,  not 
to  forget  the  holy  nature  of  the  divine  mission  of  the  Founder  of 
our  religion,  and  to  profit  by  his  peaceful  examples.  I  entreat 
that  portion  of  my  countrywomen  who  have  given  their  counte 
nance  to  abolition,  to  remember  that  they  are  ever  most  loved 
and  honored  when  moving  in  their  own  appropriate  and  delight 
ful  sphere ;  and  to  reflect  that  the  ink  which  they  shed  in  subscri 
bing  with  their  fair  hands  abolition  petitions,  may  prove  but  the 
prelude  to  the  shedding  of  the  blood  of  their  brethren.  I  adjure 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  free  states  to  rebuke  and  discounte 
nance,  by  their  opinion  and  their  example,  measures  which  must 
inevitably  lead  to  the  most  calamitous  consequences.  And  let 
us  all,  as  countrymen,  as  friends,  and  as  brothers,  cherish  in  un 
fading  memory  the  motto  which  bore  our  ancestors  triumphantly 


ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION,  &c.  383 

through  all  the  trials  of  the  revolution,  as,  if  adhered  to,  it  will 
conduct  their  posterity  through  all  that  may,  in  the  dispensations 
of  Providence,  be  reserved  for  them. 


ON  THE   DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  PROCEEDS 
OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

Thursday,  January  28,  1841. 

The  Pre-emption  Bill  being  under  consideration,  and  the 
question  being  on  Mr.  Crittenden's  motion  to  re-commit  the  bill 
\vith  instructions  to  engraft  on  it  an  amendment  for  the  distribu 
tion  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among  the  States — 

Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  rose  and  addressed  the  Senate  sub 
stantially  as  follows : 

With  the  measure  of  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  of  the  public  lands  among  the  states  of  the  Union,  I  have 
been  so  associated  for  the  last  eight  or  ten  years,  that,  although 
it  had  not  been  my  original  purpose  to  say  one  word  in  respect 
to  that  measure  at  the  present  session  of  Congress,  the  debate 
on  my  colleague's  motion  has  taken  such  a  wide  range  that  my 
silence  might  be  construed  into  indifference  or  an  abandonment, 
on  my  part,  of  what  I  conscientiously  believe  to  be  one  of  the 
most  important  and  beneficial  measures  ever  submitted  to  the 
consideration  of  an  American  Congress.  I  did  not  intend  to 
move  in  the  matter  at  this  session,  because  of  the  extraordinary 
state  of  parties  and  of  public  affairs.  The  party  against  which 
the  people  of  the  United  States  had  recently  pronounced  decisive 
judgment,  was  still  in  power,  and  had  majorities  in  both  houses 
of  Congress.  It  had  been  always  opposed  to  the  distribution 
bill  The  new  administration,  to  which  a  majority  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  had  given  its  confidence,  had  not  yet  the 
possession  of  power,  and,  prior  to  the  fourth  of  March  next,  can 
do  nothing  to  fulfil  the  just  expectations  of  the  country.  The 
Treasury  is  exhausted  and  in  a  wretched  condition.  I  was  aware 
that  its  state  would  be  urged  as  a  plausible  plea  against  present 
distribution — urged  even  by  a  party,  prominent  members  of  which 
Jiad  heretofore  protested  against  any  reliance  whatever  on  the 
public  lands  as  a  source  of  revenue.  Now,  although  I  do  not 
admit  the  right  of  Congress  to  apply  the  proceeds  of  all  the 
public  lands,  consistently  with  the  terms  of  the  deeds  of  cession 
from  Virginia  and  the  other  ceding  states,  to  the  purposes  of  ordi 
nary  revenue  of  government,  yet  Congress  being  in  the  habit 
of  making  such  an  application,  I  was  willing  to  acquiesce  in  the 
continuation  of  the  habit  until,  I  hope  at  some  early  day,  a  suita 
ble  provision  can  be  made  for  the  exchequer  out  of  some  more 
appropriate  and  legitimate  source  than  the  public  lands. 


384  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

The  distribution  proposed  by  my  colleague  can  be  made,  and, 
if  no  other  Senator  does,  I  will  propose  to  make  it,  to  commence 
on  the  first  day  of  January  next,  leaving  the  proceeds  of  the 
lands  of  the  current  year  applicable  to  the  uses  of  the  treasury. 
This  will  avoid  the  financial  objection,  as  I  hoped,  prior  to  that 
day,  that  some  permanent  and  adequate  provision  will  be  made 
to  supply  government  with  the  necessary  revenue.  I  shall 
therefore,  vote  for  the  proposition  with  that  qualification  since 
it  has  been  introduced,  although  I  had  not  intended  to  move 
it  myself  at  this  session. 

I  came  to  the  present  session  of  Congress  under  the  hope  that 
it  would  dedicate  itself  earnestly  to  the  urgent  and  necessary 
work  of  such  a  repair  of  the  shattered  vessel  of  state  as  would 
•put  it  in  a  condition  to  perform  the  glorious  voyage  which  it  will 
begin  on  the  fourth  of  March  next.  I  supposed,  indeed,  that  all 
new  and  doubtful  measures  of  policy  would  be  avoided ;  but 
persuaded  myself  that  a  spirit  of  manliness,  of  honor,  and  of 
patriotism  would  prompt  those  who  yet  linger  in  power  and  au 
thority  at  least  to  provide  the  necessary  ways  and  means  to  de 
fray  the  expenses  of  government,  in  the  hands  of  their  successors, 
during  the  present  year,  if  not  permanently.  But  I  confess  with 
pain  that  my  worst  fears  are  about  to  be  realized.  The  adminis 
tration  not  only  perseveres  in  the  errors  which  have  lost  it  the 
public  confidence,  but  refuses  to  allow  its  opponents  to  minister,  in 
any  way,  to  the  sufferings  of  the  community  or  the  necessities  of 
the  government.  Our  constitution  is  defective,  in  allowing  those 
to  remain  in  authority  three  or  four  months  after  the  people  have 
pronounced  judgment  against  them  ;  or  rather  the  convention 
did  not  foresee  the  possibility  of  the  existence  of  an  administra 
tion  which  would  deliberately  treat  with  neglect  and  contempt 
the  manifest  sentiments  of  their  constituents.  It  did  not  imagine 
that  an  administration  could  be  so  formed  as  that,  although 
smarting  under  a  terrible  but  merited  defeat,  it  would,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  ancient  fable,  doggedly  hold  on  to  power,  refusing 
to  use  it,  or  to  permit  others  to  use  it,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people. 

We  have  just  had  read  to  us  a  lecture  from  the  honorable 
and  highly  'respectable  senator  from  New  Hampshire,  (Mr. 
Pierce.)  which  ought  to  have  been  exclusively  addressed  to  his 
own  friends.  He  tells  us  that  we  are  wasting  our  time  in  party 
debate,  and  that  a  measure  is  always  got  up  at  the  commence 
ment  of  every  session  on  which  a  general  political  battle  is 
fought,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  important  public  business.  There 
is  some  truth  in  the  charge ;  and,  if  it  be  wrong,  who  ought  to  be 
held  responsible  for  it  ?  Clearly  those  to  whom  the  administra 
tion  of  the  government  has  been  entrusted,  and  who  have  ma 
jorities  in  both  houses  of  Congress.  What  has  been  the  engross 
ing  subject  of  this  session  ?  The  permanent  pre-emption  bill. 
"Who  introduced  it,  and  why  was  it  introduced?  Not  my 
friends  but  the  senator's.  And  it  has  been  brought  up  when 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         385 

there  is  an  operating  pre-emption  law  in  existence,  which  has  a 
long  time  to  run.  After  the  debate  had  been  greatly  protracted, 
and  after  one  administration  Senator  had  notified  the  officers 
of  the  chamber  that  they  might  get  their  lamps  in  order,  and 
another  had  declared  that  they  were  ready  to  encamp  on  the 
ground  until  the  bill  was  passed,  why  has  the  debate  been  per 
mitted  to  continue  weeks  longer,  without  explanation,  and  to  the 
surprise  of  every  one  on  this  side  of  the  Senate?  Why  has 
more  than  half  the  session  been  consumed  with  this  single  and 
unnecessary  subject?  I  would  ask  that  Senator,  who  assumes 
the  right  to  lecture  us  all,  why  he  concurred  in  pressing  on  the 
Senate  this  uncalled  for  measure  ?  Yes,  sir,  my  worst  fears  are 
about  to  be  realized.  Nothing  will  be  done  for  the  country 
during  this  session.  I  did  hope  that,  if  the  party  in  power  would 
not,  in  some  degree,  atone  for  past  misdeeds  during  the  remnant 
of  their  power,  they  would  at  least  give  the  new  administration 
a  fair  trial,  and  forbear  all  denunciation  or  condemnation  of  it  in 
advance.  But  has  this  been  their  equitable  course?  Before  the 
new  President  had  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  gentle 
men  who  have  themselves  contributed  to  bring  the  country  to 
the  brink  of  ruin,  (they  will  pardon  me  for  saying  it,  but  the 
truth  must  be  spoken,)  these  very  gentlemen  are  decrying  be 
forehand  those  measures  of  the  coming  administration  which 
are  indispensable,  and  which  they  must  know  to  be  indispensa 
ble,  to  restore  the  public  happiness  and  prosperity!  The  honora 
ble  Senator  in  my  eye,  (Mr.  Wright,)  said,  in  so  many  words, 
that  he  meant  to  condemn  this  measure  of  distribution  in  ad 
vance. 

[Mr.  Wright  shook  his  head.] 

1  have  taken  down  the  Senator's  words,  and  have  them  here 
on  my  notes. 

[Mr.  WRIGHT.  If  the  honorable  Senator  will  permit  me,  I 
will  tell  him  what  I  said.  I  said  that  the  course  of  his  friends 
had  forced  the  consideration  of  this  mensure  on  us  in  advance.] 

Forced  it  on  them  in  advance !  How?  Projects  to  squander 
the  public  domain  are  brought  forward  by  friends  of  the  ad 
ministration,  in  the  form  of  a  graduation  bill,  by  which  fifty 
millions  in  value  of  a  portion  of  it  would  have  been  suddenly 
annihilated :  pre-emption  bills,  cessions  to  a  few  of  the  states 
of  the  whole  within  their  limits.  Under  these  circumstances. 
my  colleague  presents  a  conservative  measure,  and  proposes,  in 
lieu  of  one  of  theeo  wasteful  projects  by  way  of  amendment,  an 
equitable  distribution  among  all  the  states  of  the  avails  of  the  i 
public  lands.  With  what  propriety  then  can  it  be  said  that  we, 
who  are  acting  solely  on  the  defensive,  have  farced  the  measure 
upon  our  opponents  ?  Let  them  withdraw  their  bill,  and  I  will 
answer  for  it  that  my  colleague  will  withdraw  his  amendment,  and 
will  not,  at  this  session,  press  any  measure  of  distribution.  No,  air, 
no.  The  policy  of  gentlemen  on  the  other  side,  the  clearly  defined 
33 


386  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

and  distinctly  marked  policy,  is,  to  condemn,  in  advance,  thc.'se 
measures  which  their  own  sagacity  enables  them  to  perceive 
that  the  new  administration,  faithful  to  their  own  principles  and 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  must  bring  forward  to  build 
up  once  more  the  public  prosperity.  How,  otherwise,  are  we 
to  account  for  opposition,  from  leading  friends  of  the  adminis 
tration,  to  the  imposition  of  duties  on  the  merest  luxuries  in  the 
world?  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  increase  the  public  reve 
nue.  That  is  incontestable.  It  can  only  be  done  by  the  impo 
sition  of  duties  on  the  protected  articles,  or  on  the  free  articles, 
including  those  of  luxury;  for  no  one,  I  believe,  in  the  Senate, 
dreams  of  laying  a  direct  tax.  Well ;  if  duties  were  proposed 
on  the  protected  articles,  the  proposition  would  instantly  be  de 
nounced  as  reviving  a  high  tariff.  And  when  they  are  proposed 
on  silks  and  wines,  Senators  on  the  other  side  raise  their  voices 
in  opposition  to  duties  on  these  articles  of  incontestable  luxury. 
These,  moreover,  are  objects  of  consumption  chiefly  with  the 
rich,  and  they,  of  course,  would  pay  the  principal  part  of  the 
duty.  But  the  exemption  of  the  poor  from  the  burden  does  not 
commend  the  measure  to  the  acceptance  of  the  friends  of  this 
expiring  administration.  And  yet  they,  sometimes,  assume  to 
be  guardians  of  the  interests  of  the  poor.  Guardians  of  the 
poor !  Their  friendship  was  demonstrated  at  a  former  session 
by  espousing  a  measure  which  was  to  have  the  tendency  of  re 
ducing  wages,  and  now  they  put  themselves  in  opposition  •  to  a 
tax  which  would  benefit  the  poor,  and  fall  almost  exclusively  on 
the  rich. 

I  will  not  detain  the  Senate  now  by  dwelling  on  the  ruinous 
state  of  the  trade  with  France,  in  silks  and  wines  especially,  as 
it  is  now  carried  on.  But  I  cannot  forbear  observing,  that  we 
import  from  Prance  and  her  dependencies  thirty -three  millions 
of  dollars  annually,  whilst  we  export  in  return  only  about  nine 
teen  millions,  leaving  a  balance  against  us,  in  the  whole  trade, 
of  fourteen  millions  of  dollars ;  and,  excluding  the  French  de 
pendencies,  the  balance  against  us  in  the  direct  trade,  with 
France,  is  seventeen  millions.  Yet  gentlemen  say  we  must 
not  touch  this  trade!  We  must  not  touch  a  trade  with  such  a 
heavy  and  ruinous  balance  against  us — a  balance,  a  large  part, 
if  not  the  whole,  of  which  is  paid  in  specie.  I  have  been  in 
formed,  and  believe,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  gold  which  was 
obtained  from  France  under  the  treaty  of  indemnity,  and  which, 
during  General  Jackson's  administration,  was  with  so  much  care 
and  parade  introduced  into  the  United  States,  perhaps  under 
the  vain  hope  that  it  would  remain  here,  in  less  than  eighteen 
months  was  re-exported  to  France  in  the  very  boxes  in  which 
it  was  brought,  to  liquidate  our  commercial  debt.  Yet  we  must 
not  supply  the  indispensable  wants  of  the  treasury  by  taxing  any 
of  the  articles  of  this  disadvantageous  commerce !  And  some  gen 
tlemen,  assuming  not  merely  the  guardianship  of  the  poor,  but  of 
the  south  also,  (with  about  as  much  fidelity  in  the  one  case  as  in 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         3S7 

the  other,)  object  to  the  imposition  of  duties  upon  these  luxuries, 
because  they  might  affect  somewhat  the  trade  with  France  in  a 
southern  staple.    But  duties  upon  any  foreign  imports  may  affect, 
in  some  small  degree,  our  exports.     If  the  objection,  therefore, 
be  sustained,  we  must  forbear  to  lay  any  imposts,  and  rely, 
as  some  gentlemen  are  understood  to  desire,  on  direct  taxes. 
But  to  this  neither  the  country  nor  Congress  will  ever  consent. 
We  have  hitherto  resorted  mainly,  and  I  have  no  doubt  always 
will  resort,  to  our  foreign  imports  for  revenue.     And  can  any 
objects  be  selected  with  more  propriety  than  those  which  enter 
so  largely  into  the  consumption  of  the  opulent?     It  is  of  more 
consequence  to  the  community,  in  the  consideration  of  duties, 
who  consumes  the  articles  charged  with  them,  and  consequently, 
who  pays  them,  than  how  the  dutied  articles  are  purchased 
abroad.     The  south  is  the  last  place  from  which  an  objection 
should  come  on  the  score  of  disproportionate  consumption.     I 
venture  to  assert  that  there  is  more  champaign  wine  consumed 
in  the  Astor  House,  in  the  city  of  New-York,  in  one  year,  than  in 
any  state  south  of  the  Potomac.    [A  laugh.]    Our  total  amount  of 
imports  last  year  was  $104,000,000.    Deducting  the  free  articles, 
the  amount  of  goods  subject  to  duty  was  probably  not  more  than 
between  fifty  and  sixty  millions.    Now,  if  we  are  to  adhere  to 
the  compromise  of  the  tariff,  which  it  is  my  wish  to  be  able  to 
do,  but  concerning  which  I  have  remarked  lately  a  portentous 
silence  on  the  part  of  some  of  its  professing  friends  on  the  other 
side,  it  will  be  recollected  that  the  maximum  of  any  duty  to  be 
imposed  is  twenty  per  cent,  after  Jnne,  1842.    It  would  not  be 
eare  to  assume  our  imports  in  future  of  articles  that  would  re 
main  for  consumption,  and  not  be  re-exported,  higher  than  one 
hundred  millions,  twenty  per  cent,  on  which  would  yield  a  gross 
revenue  annually  of  twenty  millions.    But  I  think  that  we  ought 
not  to  estimate  our  imports  at  more  than  ninety  millions ;  ior, 
besides  other  causes  that  must  tend  to  diminish  them,  some  ten 
or  twelve  millions  of  our  exports  will  be  applied  annually  to  the 
payment  of  interest  or  principal  of  our  state  debts  held  abroad, 
and  will  not  return  in  the  form  of  imports.     Twenty  per  cent 
upon  ninety  millions  would  yield  a  gross  revenue  of  eighteen 
millions  only.     Thus  it  is  manifest  that  there  must  be  additional 
duties.    And  I  think  it  quite  certain  that  the  amount  of  necessary 
revenue  cannot  be  raised  without  going  up  to  the  limit  of  the 
compromise  upon  all  articles  whatever  which,  by  its  terms,  are 
liable  to  duty.    And  these  additional  duties  ought  to  be  laid 
now,  forthwith,  clearly  before  the  close  of  the  session.     The 
revenue  is  now  deficient,  compelling  the  administration  to  resort 
to  the  questionable  and  dangerous  use  of  treasury  notes.     Of 
this  deficient  revenue,  there  will  go  off  five  millions  during  the 
next  pession  of  Congress,  according  to  the  estimate  of  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury,  two  and  a  half  millions  on  the  31st  De 
cember,  1841,  and  two  and  a  half  millions  more  on  the  30th 
June,  1842.    This  reduction  takes  place  under  that  provision  of 


338  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE 

the  compromise  act  by  which  one-half  the  excess  of  all  duties  be 
yond  twenty  per  cent,  is  repealed  on  the  last  day  of  this  year  and 
the  other  moiety  of  that  excess  on  the  last  day  of  June,  1842.  Now, 
if  Congress  does  not  provide  for  this  great  deficiency  in  the  reve 
nue  prior  to  the  close  of  the  present  session,  how  is  it  possible 
to  provide  for  it  in  season  at  the  session  which  begins  on  the 
first  Monday  in  December  next?  No  great  change  in  the  cus 
toms  ought  to  be  made  without  reasonable  notice  to  the  mer 
chant,  to°enable  him  to  adapt  his  operations  to  the  change.  How 
is  it  possible  to  give  this  notice,  if  nothing  is  done  until  the  next 
regular  meeting  of  Congress?  Waiving  all  notice  to  the  mer 
chant,  and  adverting  merely  to  the  habits  of  Congress,  is  it  not 
manifest  that  no  revenue  bill  can  be  passed  by  the  last  day  of 
December,  at  a  session  commencing  on  the  first  Monday  of  that 
month?  How,  then,  can  gentlemen  who  have,  at  least,  the 
temporary  possession  of  the  government,  reconcile  it  to  duty 
and  to  patriotism  to  go  home  and  leave  it  in  this  condition?  I 
heard  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania,  (Mr.  Buchanan,)  at  the 
last  session,  express  himself  in  favor  of  a  duty  on  wines  and 
silks.  Why  is  he  now  silent  ?  Has  he,  too,  changed  his  opin 
ion? 

[Mr.  Buchanan.  I  have  changed  none  of  my  opinions  on  the 
subject.] 

I  am  glad,  most  happy,  to  hear  it.  Then  the  Senator  ought 
to  unite  with  us  in  the  imposition  of  duties  sufficient  to  produce 
an  adequate  revenue.  Yet  his  friends  denounce,  in  advance,  the 
idea  of  imposing  duties  on  articles  of  luxury !  They  denounce 
distribution !  They  denounce  an  extra  session,  after  creating  an 
absolute  necessity  for  it !  They  denounce  all  measures  to  give 
us  a  sound  currency  but  the  Sub-Treasury,  denounced  by  the 
people  !  They  denounce  the  administration  of  President  Harri 
son  before  it  has  commenced !  Parting  from  the  power  of  which 
the  people  have  stript  them  with  regret  and  reluctance,  and  look 
ing  all  around  them  with  sullenness,  they  refuse  to  his  adminis 
tration  that  fair  trial  which  the  laws  allow  to  every  arraigned 
culprit.  I  hope  that  gentlemen  will  reconsider  this  course,  and 
that,  out  of  deference  to  the  choice  of  the  people,  if  not  from  feel 
ings  of  justice  and  propriety,  they  will  forbear  to  condemn  be 
fore  they  have  heard  President  Harrison's  administration.  If 
gentlemen  are  for  peace  and  harmony,  we  are  prepared  to  meet 
them  in  a  spirit  of  peace  and  harmony,  to  unite  with  them  in 
healing  the  wounds  and  building  up  the  prosperity  of  the  coun 
try.  But  if  they  are  for  war,  as  it  seems  they  are,  I  say,  "  Lay 
on,  Macduff." 

[Sensation,  and  a  general  murmuring  sound  throughout  the 
chamber  and  galleries.] 

One  argument  of  the  honorable  Senator  who  has  just  taken 
his  seat,  (Mr.  Wright)  I  wish  to  detach  from  the  residue  of  his 
speech,  that  I  may,  at  once,  put  it  to  sleep  forever.  With  all  his 
well  known  ability,  and  without  meaning  to  be  disrespectful,  I 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         389 

may  add,  with  all  his  characteristic  ingenuity  and  subtlety,  he 
has  urged  that  if  you  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands, 
you  arrogate  to  yourselves  the  power  of  taxing  the  people  to 
raise  money  for  distribution  among  the  states  j  that  there  is  no 
difference  between  revenue  proceeding  from  the  public  land*?  and 
revenue  from  the  customs ;  and  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  con 
stitution  which  allows  you  to  lay  duties  on  imports  for  the  pur 
pose  of  making  up  a  deficiency  produced  by  distributing  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  public  lands. 

I  deny  the  position,  utterly  deny  it,  and  I  will  refute  it  from  the 
express  language  of  the  constitution.  From  the  first,  I  have  been 
of  those  who  protested  against  the  existence  of  any  power  in  this 
government  to  tax  the  people  for  the  purpose  of  a  subsequent 
distribution  of  the  money  among  the  states.  I  still  protest  against, 
it.  There  exists  no  such  power.  We  invoke  the  aid  of  no  such 
power  in  maintenance  of  the  principle  of  distribution,  applied  to 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  domain.  But  if  such  a 
power  clearly  existed,  there  would  not  be  the  slightest  ground 
for  the  apprehension  of  its  exercise.  The  imposition  of  taxes  is 
always  an  unpleasant,  sometimes  a  painful  duty.  What  govern 
ment  will  ever  voluntarily  incur  the  odium  and  consent  to  lay 
taxes,  and  become  a  tax  gatherer,  not  to  have  the  satisfaction  of 
expending  the  money  itself,  but  to  distribute  it  among  other  gov 
ernments,  to  be  expended,  by  them  1  But  to  the  constitution. — 
Let  us  see  whether  the  taxing  power  and  the  land  power  are,  as 
the  argument  of  the  Senator  assumes,  identical  and  the  same. 
What  is  the  language  of  the  constitution  1  "  The  Congress  shall 
have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises, 
to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general 
welfare  of  the  United  States  ;  but  all  duties,  imposts  and  excises 
shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States."  Here  is  ample 
power  to  impose  taxes ;  but  the  object  lor  which  the  money  is  to 
be  raised  is  specified.  There  is  no  authority  whatever  conveyed 
to  raise  money  by  taxation,  for  the  purpose  of  subsequent  distri 
bution  among  the  states,  unless  the  phrase  "  general  welfare  *; 
includes  such  a  power.  The  doctrine,  once  held  by  a  party  up 
on  whose  principles  the  Senator  and  his  friends  now  act,  in  rela 
tion  to  the  Executive  Department,  that  those  phrases  included  a 
grant  of  power,  has  been  long  since  exploded  and  abandoned. 
They  are  now,  by  common  consent,  understood  to  indicate  a  pur 
pose  and  not  to  vest  a  power.  The  clause  of  the  constitution, 
fairly  construed  and  understood,  means  that  the  taxing  power  is 
to  be  exerted  to  raise  money  to  enable  Congress  to  pay  the  debts 
and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare.  And 
it  is  to  provide  for  the  general  welfare,  in  any  exigency,  by  a  fair 
exercise  of  the  powers  granted  in  the  constitution.  The  Repub 
lican  party  of  1798,  in  whose  school  I  was  brought  up,  and  to 
whose  rules  of  interpreting  the  constitution  I  have~ever  adhered, 
maintained  that  this  was  a  limited  government ;  that  it  had  nu 
33* 


390  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE 

powers  but  granted  powers,  or  powers  necessary  and  proper  to 
carry  into  effect  the  granted  powers ;  and  that,  in  any  given  in 
stance  of  the  exercise  of  power,  it  was  necessary  to  show  the 
specific  grant  of  it,  or  that  the  proposed  measure  was  necessary 
and  proper  to  carry  into  effect  a  specifically  granted  power  or 
powers. 

There  is  then,  I  repeat,  no  power  or  authority  in  the  general 
government  to  lay  and  collect  taxes  in  order  to  distribute  the  pro 
ceeds  among  the  states.  Such  a  financial  project,  if  any  admin 
istration  were  mad  enough  to  adopt  it,  would  be  a  flagrant  usur 
pation.  But  how  stands  the  case  as  to  the  land  power?  There 
is  not  in  the  whole  constitution  a  single  line  or  word  that  indi 
cates  an  intention  that  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  should 
come  into  the  public  treasury  to  be  used  as  a  portion  of  the  re 
venue  of  the  government.  On  the  contrary,  the  unlimited  grant 
of  power  to  raise  revenue  in  all  the  forms  of  taxation,  would  seem 
to  manifest  that  that  was  to  be  the  source  of  supply,  and  not  the 
public  lands.  But  the  grant  of  power  to  Congress  over  the  pub 
lic  lands  in  the  constitution  is  ample  and  comprehensive.  "  The 
Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful 
rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other  property 
belonging  tc  the  United  States."  This  is  a  broad,  unlimited, 
and  plenary  power,  subject  to  no  restriction  other  than  a  sound, 
practical,  and  statesmanlike  discretion)  to  be  exercised  by  Con 
gress.  It  applies  to  all  the  territory  and  property  of  the  United 
States,  whether  acquired  by  treaty  with  foreign  powers,  or  by 
cessions  of  particular  states,  or  however  obtained.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  right  to  dispose  of  the  territory  and  property  of 
the  United  States,  includes  a  right  to  dispose  of  the  proceeds  of 
their  territory  and  property,  and  consequently  a  right  to  distrib 
ute  those  proceeds  among  the  states.  If  the  general  clause  in 
the  constitution  allows  and  authorizes,  as  I  think  it  clearly  doesr 
distribution  among  the  several  states,  I  will  hereafter  show  that 
the  conditions  on  which  the  states  ceded  to  the  United  States  can 
only  now  receive  their  just  and  equitable  fulfilment  by  distribu- 
•,  tion. 

The  Senator  from  New-York  argued  that  if  the  power  con 
tended  for,  to  dispose  of  the  territory  and  property  of  the  United 
States,  or  their  proceeds,  existed,  it  would  embrace  the  national 
ships,  public  buildings,  magazines,  dock-yards,  and  whatever 
else  belonged  to  the  government.  And  so  it  would.  There  is 
not  a  doubt  of  it;  but  when  will  Congress  ever  perpetrate  such  a 
folly  as  to  distribute  this  national  property?  It  annually  distrib 
utes  arms,  according  to  a  fixed  rule,  among  the  states,  with  great 
propriety.  Are  they  not  property  belonging  to  the  United  States? 
To  whose  authority  is  the  use  of  them  assigned?  To  that  of 
the  States.  And  we  may  safely  conclude  that  when  it  is  expe 
dient  to  distribute,  Congress  will  make  distribution,  and  when  it 
ie  best  to  retain  any  national  property,  under  the  common  au 
thority,  it  will  remain  subject  to  it.  I  challenge  the  Senator,  or 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         391 

any  other  person,  to  show  any  limitation  on  the  power  of  Con 
gress  to  dispose  of  the  territory  or  property  qf  the  United  States 
or  their  proceeds,  but  that  which  may  be  found  in  the  terms  of 
the  deeds  of  cession,  or  in  a  sound  and  just  discretion.  Come 
on ;  who  can  show  it  ?  Has  it  not  been  shown  that  the  taxing 
power,  by  a  specification  of  the  objects  for  which  it  is  to  be  exer 
cised,  excludes  all  idea  of  raising  money  for  the  purpose  of  dis 
tribution?  And  that  the  land  power  places  distribution  on  a  to 
tally  different  footing?  That  no  part  of  the  proceeds  of  the  /. 
public  domain  compose  necessarily,  or  perhaps  properly,  a  por-  * 
tion  of  the  public  revenue  ?  What  is  the  language  of  the  con 
stitution  ?  That  to  pay  the  debts,  provide  for  the  common  de 
fence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States,  you  may  take 
the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  ?  No,  no.  It  says,  for  these 
ends,  in  other  words,  for  the  conduct  of  the  government  of  the 
Union,  you  shall  have  power,  unlimited  as  to  amount  and  objects, 
to  lay  taxes.  That  is  what  it  says ;  and  if  you  go  to  the  consti 
tution,  this  is  ite;  answer.  You  have  no  right  to  go  for  power 
anywhere  else. 

Hereafter,  I  shall  endeavor  further  to  show  that,  by  adopting 
the  distribution  principle,  you  do  not  exercise  or  affect  the  taxing 
power ;  that  you  will  be  setting  no  dangerous  precedent,  as  is 
alledged  ;  and  that  you  will,  in  fact,  only  pay  an  honest  debt  to 
the  states,  too  long  withheld  from  them,  and  of  which  some  of 
them  now  stand  in  the  greatest  need. 

In  the  opposition  to  distribution,  we  find  associated  together 
the  friends  of  pre-emption,  the  friends  of  graduation,  and  the 
friends  of  a  cession  of  the  whole  of  the  public  lands  to  a  few  of 
the  states.  Instead  of  reproaching  us  with  a  want  of  constitu 
tional  power  to  make  an  equitable  and  just  distribution  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  among  all  the  states, 
they  would  do  well  to  point  to  the  constitutional  authority  or  to 
the  page  in  the  code  of  justice  by  which  their  projects  are  to  be 
maintained.  But  it  is  not  my  purpose  now  to  dwell  on  these 
matters.  My  present  object  is  with  the  argument  of  the  senator 
from  New-York,  and  his  friends,  founded  on  financial  considera 
tions. 

All  at  once  these  gentlemen  seem  to  be  deeply  interested  in 
the  revenue  derivable  from  the  public  lands.  Listen  to  them 
now,  and  you  would  suppose  that  heretofore  they  had  always 
been,  and  hereafter  would  continue  to  be,  decidedly  and  warm 
ly  in  favor  of  carefully  husbanding  the  public  domain,  and 
obtaining  from  it  the  greatest  practicable  amount  of  revenue,  for 
the  exclusive  use  of  the  general  government.  You  would 
imagine  that  none  of  them  had  ever  espoused  or  sanctioned  any 
scheme  for  wasting  or  squandering  the  public  lands ;  that  they 
regarded  them  as  a  sacred  and  inviolable  fund,  to  be  preserved 
for  the  benefit  of  posterity  as  well  as  this  generation. 

It  is  my  intention  now  to  unmask  these  gentlemen,  and  to 
show  that  their  real  system  for  the  administration  of  the  public 


392  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE 

lands  embraces  no  object  of  revenue,  either  in  the  general  gov 
ernment  or  the  states ;  that  their  purpose  is  otherwise  to  dispose 
of  them ;  that  the  fever  for  revenue  is  an  intermittent,  which  ap 
pears  only  when  a  bill  to  distribute  the  proceeds  equally  among 
all  the  states  is  pending ;  and  that,  as  soon  as  that  bill  is  got  rid 
of,  gentlemen  relapse  into  their  old  projects  of  throwing  away 
the  public  lands,  and  denouncing  all  objects  of  revenue  from  the 
public  lands  as  unwise,  illiberal,  and  unjust  towards  the  new 
states.  I  will  make  all  this  good  by  the  most  incontrovertible 
testimony.  I  will  go  to  the  very  highest  authority  in  the  dom 
inant  party  during  the  last  twelve  years,  and  from  that  I  will 
come  down  to  the  honorable  senator  from  New- York  and  other 
members  of  the  party.  (I  should  not  say  come  down  ;  it  is  cer 
tainly  not  descending  from  the  late  President  of  the  United 
States  to  approach  the  senator  from  New- York.  If  intellect  is 
the  standard  by  which  to  measure  elevation,  he  would  certainly 
stand  far  above  the  measure  of  the  Hermitage.)  I  will  show, 
by  the  most  authentic  documents,  that  the  opponents  of  distribu 
tion,  upon  the  principle  now  so  urgently  pressed,  of  revenue,  are 
no  bona  fide  friends  of  revenue  from  the  public'  lands.  I  am 
afraid  I  shall  weary  the  Senate,  but  I  entreat  it  to  bear  pa 
tiently  with  me  whilst  I  retrace  the  history  of  this  measure  of 
distribution. 

You  well  recollect,  sir,  that  some  nine  or  ten  years  ago  the 
subject  of  the  public  lands,  by  one  of  the  most  singular  associa 
tions  that  was  ever  witnessed,  was  referred  to  -the  committee  on 
manufactures,  by  one  of  the  strangest  parliamentary  manoeuvres 
that  was  ever  practised,  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  embarrass 
the  individual  who  now  has  the  honor  to  address  you,  and  who 
happened  at  that  time  to  be  a  member  of  that  committee.  It 
was  in  vain  that  I  protested  against  the  reference,  showed  the 
total  incongruity  between  the  manufactures  of  the  country  and  the 
public  lands,  and  entreated  gentlemen  to  spare  us,  and  to  spare 
themselves  the  reproaches  which  such  a  forced  and  unnatural 
connexion  would  bring  upon  them.  It  was  all  to  no  purpose  ; 
the  subject  was  thrown  upon  the  committee  on  manufactures,  in 
other  words,  it  was  thrown  upon  me ;  for  it  was  well  known 
that  although  among  my  colleagues  of  the  committee  there  might 
be  those  who  were  my  superiors  in  other  respects,  -owing  to  my 
local  position,  it  was  supposed  that  I  possessed  a  more  familiar 
knowledge  with  the  public  lands  than  any  of  them,  when,  in 
truth,  mine  was  not  considerable.  There  was  another  more 
weighty  motive  with  the  majority  of  the  Senate  for  devolving  the 
business  on  me.  The  zeal,  and,  perhaps,  too  great  partiality 
of  my  friends  had,  about  that  time,  presented  my  name  for  a 
high  office.  And  it  was  supposed  that  no  measure,  for  perma 
nently  settling  the  question  of  the  public  lands,  could  emanate 
from  me  that  would  not  affect  injuriously  my  popularity  either 
with  the  new  or  the  old  states,  or  with  both.  1  felt  the  embar 
rassment  of  the  pogitisn  in  which  I  was  placed ;  but  I  resolved 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         39? 

not  to  sink  under  it  I  pulled  off  my  coat,  and  went  hard  to 
work.  I  manufactured  the  measure  for  distributing  equitably, 
in  just  proportions,  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among  the 
several  states.  When  reported  from  the  committee,  its  reception 
in  the  Senate,  in  Congress,  and  in  the  country,  was  triumphant. 
I  had  every  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  result  of  my  labors, 
and  my  political  opponents  had  abundant  cause  for  bitter  regrets 
at  their  indiscretion  in  wantonly  throwing  the  subject  on  me, 
The  bill  passed  the  Senate,  but  was  not  acted  upon  in  the 
house  at  that  session,  At  the  succeeding  session  it  passed  both 
houses.  In  spite  of  all  those  party  connexions,  which  are,  per 
haps,  the  strongest  ties  that  bind  the  human  race,  Jackson  men, 
breaking  loose  from  party  thraldom,  united  with  anti-Jackson 
men,  and  voted  the  bill  by  overwhelming  majorities  in  both 
houses.  If  it  had  been  returned  by  the  President,  it  would  have 
passed  both  houses  by  constitutional  majorities,  his  veto  notwith 
standing.  But  it  was  a  measure  suggested,  although  not  volun 
tarily,  by  an  individual  who  shared  no  part  in  the  President's 
counsels  or  his  affections ;  and  although  he  had  himself,  in  his 
annual  message,  recommended  a  similar  measure,  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  change  his  ground  in  order  to  thwart  my  views.  He 
knew,  as  I  have  always  believed  and  have  understood,  that  if  he 
returned  the  bill,  as  by  the  constitution  he  was  bound  to  do,  it 
would  become  a  law,  by  the  sanction  of  the  requisite  majorities 
in  the  two  houses.  He  resolved,  therefore,  upon  an  arbitrary 
course,  and  to  defeat,  by  an  irregular  and  unprecedented  pro 
ceeding,  what  he  could  not  prevent  by  reason  and  the  legitimate 
action  of  the  constitution.  He  resolved  not  to  return  the  bill, 
and  did  not  return  it  to  Congress,  but  pocketed  it ! 

I  proceed  now  to  the  documentary  proof  which  I  promised. 
In  his  annual  message  of  December  4,  1832,  President  Jackson 
says : 

"  Previous  to  the  formation  of  our  present  constitution,  it  was 
recommended  by  Congress  that  a  portion  of  the  waste  lands 
owned  by  the  states  should  be  ceded  to  the  United  States  for  the 
purposes  of  general  harmony,  and  as  a  fund  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  war.  The  recommendation  was  adopted,  and,  at  different 
periods  of  time,  the  states  of  Massachusetts,  New- York,  Vir 
ginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  granted  their 
vacant  soil  for  ihe  uses  for  which  they  had  been  asked.  As  the 
lands  may  now  be  considered  as  relieved  from  this  pledge,  the 
object  for  which  they  were  ceded  having  been  accomplished,  it 
is  in  the  discretion  of  Congress  to  dispose  of  them  in  such  way 
as  best  to  conduce  to  the  quiet,  harmony,  and  general  interest 
of  the  American  people,"  &c.  "  It  seems  to  me  to  be  our  true 
policy  that  the  public  lands  shall  cease,  as  soon  as  practicable, 
to  be  a  source  of  revenue,"  &c. 

Thus,  in  December,  1832,  President  Jackson  was  of  opinion, 
first,  that  the  public  lands  were  released  from  the  pledge  of  them 
to  the  expenses  of  the  revolutionary  war,  Secondly,  that  it  waa 


$94  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE 

in  the  power  of  Congress  to  dispose  of  them  according  to  its  dis 
cretion,  in  such  way  as  best  to  conduce  to  the  quiet,  harmony, 
and  general  interest  of  the  American  people.  And,  thirdly,  that 
the  public  lands  should  cease  as  soon  as  practicable  to  be  a 
source  of  revenue. 

So  far  from  concurring  in  the  argument,  now  insisted  upon  by 
hie  friends,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  defeating  distribution,  that  the 
public  lands  should  be  regarded  and  cherished  as  a  source  of  re 
venue,  he  was  clearly  of  opinion  that  they  should  altogether 
cease  to  be  considered  as  a  source  of  revenue. 

The  measure  of  distribution  was  reported  by  me  from  the 
committee  on  manufactures,  in  April,  1832,  and  what  was  done 
with  it?  The  same  majority  of  the  Senate  which  had  so 
strangely  discovered  a  congeniality  between  American  manu 
factures  and  the  public  lands,  instead  of  acting  on  the  report, 
resolved  to  refer  it  to  the  committee  on  public  lands,  of  which  the 
senator  from  Alabama  (Mr.  King)  was  chairman ;  thus  exhib 
iting  the  curious  parliamentary  anomaly  of  referring  the  report 
of  one  standing  committee  to  another  standing  committee. 

The  chairman  on  the  18th  May  made  a  report  from  which 
many  pertinent  extracts  might  be  made,  but  I  shall  content  my 
self  with  one : 

"  This  committee  turn  with  confidence  from  the  land  offices  to 
the  custom-houses,  and  say,  here  are  the  true  sources  of  Federal 
revenue  !  Give  lands  to  the  cultivator  !  And  tell  him  to  keep 
his  money  and  lay  it  out  in  their  cultivation  !" 

Now,  Mr.  President,  bear  in  mind  that  this  report  made  by 
the  senator  from  Alabama  embodies  the  sentiments  of  his  party ; 
that  the  measure  of  distribution  which  came  from  the  committee 
on  manufactures  exhibited  one  system  for  the  administration  of 
the  public  lands,  and  that  it  was  referred  to  the  committee  on 
public  lands,  to  enable  that  committee  to  make  an  argumenta 
tive  report  against  it,  and  to  present  their  system — a  counter  or 
antagonist  system.  Well,  this  counter-system  is  exhibited,  and 
what  is  it  ?  Does  it  propose  to  retain  and  husband  the  public 
lands  as  a  source  of  revenue  ?  Do  we  hear  any  thing  from  that 
committee  about  the  wants  of  the  exchequer,  and  the  expediency 
of  economizing  and  preserving  the  public  lands  to  supply  them  ? 
No  such  thing.  No  such  recommendation.  On  the  contrary, 
we  are  deliberately  told  to  avert  our  eyes  from  the  land  office^ 
and  to  fix  them  exclusively  on  the  custom-houses  as  the  true 
sources  of  federal  revenue !  Give  away  the  public  lands  was  the 
doctrine  of  that  report.  Give  it  to  the  cultivator  and  tell  him  to 
keep  his  money !  And  the  party  of  the  senator  from  New  York, 
from  that  day  to  this,  have  adhered  to  that  doctrine,  except  at 
occasional  short  periods,  when  the  revenue  fit  has  come  upon 
them,  and  they  have  found  it  convenient,  in  order  to  defeat  dis 
tribution,  to  profess  great  solicitude  for  the  interests  of  the  re 
venue. 

Some  of  them,  indeed,  are  too  frank  to  make  any  euch  pro 


PROCEEDS  OP  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         395 

fession.  I  should  be  glad  to  know  from  the  senator  from  Ala 
bama  if  he  adheres  to  the  sentiments  of  his  report  of  1832,  and 
still  thinks  that  the  custom-houses  and  not  the  land  offices  are 
the  true  sources  of  federal  revenue. 

[Mr.  King  here  nodded  assent "j 

I  expected  it.  This  re-avowal  is  honorable  to  the  candor  and 
independence  of  the  senator.  He  does  not  go,  then,  with  the 
revenue  arguers.  He  does  not  go  with  the  senator  from  New 
York,  who  speaks  strongly  in  favor  of  the  revenue  from  the  pub 
lic  lands,  and  votes  for  every  proposition  to  throw  away  the 
public  lands. 

During  the  whole  progress  of  the  bill  of  distribution  through 
the  Senate,  as  far  as  their  sentiments  were  to  be  inferred  from 
their  votes,  or  were  to  be  known  by  the  positive  declarations  of 
some  of  them,  the  party  dominant  then  and  now  acted  in  confor 
mity  with  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  report  of  their  organ, 
(Mr.  King.)  Nevertheless  the  bill  passed  both  houses  of  Congress 
by  decisive  majorities. 

Smothered,  as  already  stated,  by  President  Jackson,  he  did 
not  return  it  to  the  Senate  until  the  fourth  December,  1833. 
With  it  came  his  memorable  veto  message — one  of  the  most 
singular  omnibusses  that  was  ever  beheld — a  strange  vehicle 
that  seemed  to  challenge  wonder  and  admiration  on  account  of 
the  multitude  of  hands  evidently  employed  in  its  construction, 
the  impress  of  some  of  them  smeared  and  soiled  as  if  they  were 
fresh  from  the  kitchen.  Hear  how  President  Jackson  lays  down 
the  law  in  this  message  : 

"  On  the  whole,  I  adhere  to  the  opinion  expressed  by  me  in 
my  annual  message  of  1832,  that  it  is  our  true  policy  that  the 
public  lands  shall  cease,  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  be  a  source 
of  revenue,  except  for  the  payment  of  those  general  charges 
which  grow  out  of  the  acquisition  of  the  lands,  their  survey  and 
sale."  "  I  do  not  doubt  that  it  is  the  real  interest  of  each  and 
all  the  states  in  the  Union,  and  particularly  of  the  new  states, 
that  the  price  of  these  lands  shall  be  reduced  and  graduated;  and 
that  alter  they  have  been  offered  for  a  certain  number  of  years, 
the  refuse,  remaining  unsold,  shall  be  abandoned  to  the  states, 
and  the  machinery  of  our  land  system  entirely  withdrawn." 

These  are  the  conclusions  of  the  head  of  that  party  which  has 
been  dominant  in  this  country  for  twelve  years  past.  I  say 
twelve,  for  the  last  four  have  been  but  as  a  codicil  to  the  will, 
evincing  a  mere  continuation  of  the  same  policy,  purposes,  and 
designs  with  that  which  preceded  it.  During  that  long  and 
dismal  period,  we  all  know,  too  well  that  the  commands  of  no 
major-general  were  ever  executed  with  more  implicit  obedience 
than  were  the  orders  of  President  Jackson,  or,  if  you  please,  the 
public  policy  as  indicated  by  him.  Now,  in  this  message,  he  re 
peats  that  the  public  lands  should  cease  to  be  a  source  of  re 
venue,  with  a  slight  limitation  as  to  the  reimbursement  of  the 
charges  of  their  administration;  and  adds  that  their  price  should 


306  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

be  reduced  and  graduated,  and  what  he  terms  the  refuse  land 
should  be  ceded  to  the  states  within  which  it  is  situated.  By 
the  by,  these  refuse  lands,  according  to  statements  which  I  have 
recently  seen  from  the  land  office,  have  been  the  source  of 
nearly  one  half — upwards  of  forty  millions  of  dollars — of  all  the 
receipts  from  the  public  lands,  and  that,  too,  principally  since  the 
date  of  that  veto  message  ! 

It  is  perfectly  manifest  that  the  consideration  of  revenue,  now 
BO  earnestly  pressed  upon  us  by  the  friends  of  General  Jackson, 
was  no  object  with  him  in  the  administration  of  the  public  lands, 
and  that  it  was  his  policy,  by  reduction  of  the  price,  by  gradua 
tion,  by  pre-emptions,  arid  by  ultimate  cessions,  to  get  rid  of 
them  as  soon  as  practicable.  We  have  seen  that  the  committee 
on  the  public  lands  and  his  party  coincided  with  him.  Of  this, 
further  testimony  is  furnished  in  the  debates,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  year  1833,  which  took  place  on  the  distribution  bill. 

Mr.  Kane,  of  Illinois,  (a  prominent  administration  Senator,) 
in  that  debate  said : 

"Should  any  further  excuse  be  demanded  for  renewing  again 
this  discussion,  I  refer  to  the  message  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  session, 
which,  upon  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  general  substantial 
interests  of  the  confederacy,  has,  for  the  first  time  on  the  part 
of  any  Executive  Magistrate  of  this  country,  declared :  'It  seems 
to  me  (says  the  President)  to  be  our  true  policy  that  the  public 
lands  shall  cease  as  soon  as  practicable  to  be  a  source  of  reve 
nue,  and  that  they  should  be  sold  to  settlers  in  limited  parcels,  at 
a  price  barely  sufficient  to  reimburse  the  United  States  the 
expense  of  the  present  system,  and  the  cost  arising  under  our 
Indian  treaties,' "  &c. 

Mr.  Buckner,  (an  administration  Senator  from  Missouri,)  alsa 
refers  to  the  same  message  of  President  Jackson  with  approba 
tion  and  commendation. 

His  colleague,  (Mr.  Benton,)  in  alluding,  on  that  occasion,  to 
the  same  message,  says :  "  The  President  was  right.  His  views 
were  wise,  patriotic  and  statesmanlike."  "He  had  made  it  clear, 
as  he  hoped  and  believed,  that  the  President's  plan  was  right — 
that  all  idea  of  profit  from  the  lands  ought  to  be  given  up,"  &c, 

I  might  multiply  these  proofs,  but  there  is  no  necessity  for  it. 
Why  go  back  eight  or  nine  years?  We  need  only  trust  to  our 
own  ears,  and  rely  upon  what  we  almost  now  daily  hear.  Sena-^ 
tors  from  the  new  states  frequently  express  their  determination 
to  wrest  from  this  government  the  whole  of  the  public  lands, 
denounce  its  alledged  illiberality,  and  point  exultingly  to  the 
strength  which  the  next  census  is  to  bring  to  their  policy.  It 
was  but  the  other  day  we  heard  the  Senator  from  Arkansas  (Mr. 
Sevier)  express  some  of  these  sentiments.  What  were  we  told 
by  that  Senator?  "We  will  have  the  public  lands.  We  must 
have  them,  and  we  will  take  them  in  a  lew  years." 

[Mr.  SEVIER.    So  we  will.] 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         397 

Hear  him !  Hear  him !  He  repeats  it.  Utters  it  in  the  ears 
of  the  revenue-pleading  Senator  (Mr.  Wright)  on  my  left.  And 
yet  he  will  vote  against  distribution. 

I  will  come  now  to  a  document  of  more  recent  origin.  Here 
it  is — the  work  nominally  of  the  Senator  from  Michigan,  (Mr. 
Norvell,)  but  I  take  it,  from  the  internal  evidence  it  bears,  to  be 
the  production  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  over  the 
way,  (Mr.  Calhoun.)  This  report,  in  favor  of  cession,  proposes 
to  cede,  to  the  states  within  which  the  public  lands  are  situated, 
one-third,  retaining,  nominally,  two-thirds  to  the  Union.  Now, 
if  this  precedent  of  cession  be  once  established,  it  is  manifest 
that  it  will  be  applied  to  all  new  states  as  they  are  hereafter 
successively  admitted  into  the  Union.  We  begin  with  ceding  one- 
third  ;  we  shall  end  in  granting  the  whole. 

[Mr.  Calhoun  asked  Mr.  Clay  to  read  the  portions  of  the 
report  to  which  he  alluded.] 

I  should  be  very  glad  to  accommodate  the  Senator,  but  I 
should  have  to  read  the  whole  of  his  report,  and  I  am  too  much 
indisposed  and  exhausted  for  that.  But  I  will  read  one  or  two 
paragraphs : 

"  It  belongs  to  the  nature  of  things  that  the  old  and  new  states 
should  take  different  views,  have  different  feelings,  and  favor  a 
different  course  of  policy  in  reference  to  the  lands  within  their 
limits.  It  is  natural  for  the  one  to  regard  them  chiefly  as  a 
source  of  revenue,  and  to  estimate  them  according  to  the  amount 
of  income  annually  derived  from  them ;  while  the  other  as  natu 
rally  regards  them,  almost  exclusively,  as  a  portion  of  their  do 
main,  and  as  the  foundation  of  their  population,  wealth,  power 
and  importance.  They  have  more  emphatically  the  feelings  of 
ownership,  accompanied  by  the  impression  that  they  ought  to 
have  the  principal  control,  and  the  greater  share  of  benefits  de 
rived  from  them."  "To  sum  up  the  whole  in  a  few  words: — 
"Of  all  subjects  of  legislation,  land  is  that  which  more  emphati 
cally  requires  a  local  superintendence  and  administration ;  and, 
therefore,  ought  pre-eminently  to  belong,  under  our  system,  to 
state  legislation,  to  which  this  bill  proposes  to  subject  it  exclu 
sively  in  the  new  states,  as  it  has  always  been  in  the  old." 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  new  states  will  find  some 
good  reading  in  this  report.  What  is  the  reasoning  ?  That  it 
is  natural  for  the  old  states  to  regard  the  public  lands  as  a  source 
of  revenue,  and  as  natural  for  the  new  states  to  take  a  different 
view  of  the  matter ;  ergo,  let  us  give  the  lands  to  the  new  states, 
making  them,  of  course,  cease  any  longer  to  be  a  source  of 
revenue.  It  is  discovered,  too,  that  land  is  a  subject  which  em 
phatically  requires  a  local  superintendence  and  administration. 
It  therefore  proposes  to  subject  it  exclusively  to  the  new  states} 
as  (according  to  the  assertion  of  the  report)  it  always  has  been 
in  the  old.  The  public  lands  of  the  United  States,  theoretically, 
have  been  subject  to  the  joint  authority  of  the  two  classes  »f 


398  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THg 

states,  in  Congress  assembled,  but,  practically,  have  been  more 
under  the  control  of  the  members  from  the  new  states  than  those 
from  the  old.  I  do  not  think  that  the  history  of  the  administra 
tion  of  public  domain  in  this  country  sustains  the  assertion  that 
the  states  have  exhibited  more  competency  and  wisdom  for  the 
management  of  it  than  the  general  government. 

I  stated  that  I  would  come  down  (I  should  have  said  go  up) 
from  the  late  President  of  the  United  States  to  the  Senator  from 
New- York.  Let  us  see  what  sort  of  notions  he  had  on  this  mat 
ter  of  revenue  from  the  public  lands,  when  acting  in  his  charac 
ter  of  chairman  of  the  committee  of  finance,  during  this  very 
session,  on  another  bill.  There  has  been,  as  you  are  aware,  sir, 
before  the  Senate,  at  times,  during  the  last  twelve  or  fifteen 
years,  a  proposition  for  the  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  public 
lands,  under  the  imposing  guise  of  "graduation."  A  bill,  ac 
cording  to  custom,  has  been  introduced  during  the  present  ses 
sion  for  that  object.  To  give  it  eclat,  and  as  a  matter  of  form 
and  dignity,  it  was  referred  to  the  committee  of  finance,  of  which 
the  honorable  Senator  from  New- York  is  the  distinguished  chair 
man;  the  same  gentleman  who,  for  these  two  days,  has  been 
defending  these  lands  from  waste  and  spoliation,  according  to 
the  scheme  of  distributing  their  proceeds,  in  order  to  preserve 
them  as  a  fruitful  source  of  revenue  for  the  general  government. 
Here  was  a  fine  occasion  for  the  display  of  the  financial  abilities 
of  the  Senator.  He  and  his  friends  had  exhausted  the  most 
ample  treasures  that  any  administration  ever  succeeded  to. — 
They  were  about  retiring  from  office,  leaving  the  public  coffers 
perfectly  empty.  Gentlemanly  conduct  towards  their  successors, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  duties  of  office  or  of  patriotism,  required 
of  them  to  do  all  in  their  power — to  pick  up  and  gather  together, 
whenever  they  could,  any  means,  however  scattered  or  little  the 
bits  might  be— to  supply  the  urgent  wants  of  the  treasury.  At 
all  events,  if  the  financial  skill  of  the  honorable  Senator  was 
incompetent  to  suggest  any  plan  for  augmenting  the  public  reve 
nue,  he  was,  under  actual  circumstances,  bound,  by  every  con 
sideration  of  honor  and  of  duty,  to  refrain  from  espousing  or 
sanctioning  any  measure  that  would  diminish  the  national  in 
come. 

Well ;  what  did  the  honorable  Senator  do  with  the  gradua 
tion  bill? — a  bill  which,  I  assert,  with  a  single  stroke  of  the  pen, 
by  a  short  process,  consummated  in  April,  1842,  annihilates  fifty 
millions  of  dollars  of  the  avails  of  the  public  lands !  What  did 
the  Senator  do  with  this  bill,  which  takes  oft"  fifty  cents  from  the 
very  moderate  price  of  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre,  at 
which  the  public  lands  are  now  sold?  The  bill  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  able  chairman  of  the  committee  of  finance  some  time. 
He  examined  it,  no  doubt,  carefully,  deliberated  upon  it  atten 
tively  and  anxiously.  What  report  did  he  make  upon  it?  If 
uninformed  upon  the  subject,  Mr.  President,  after  witnessing, 
during  these  two  days,  the  patriotic  solicitude  of  the  Senator  in 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         399 

respect  to  the  revenue  derivable  from  the  public  lands,  you 
would  surely  conclude  that  he  had  made  a  decisive  if  not  indig 
nant  report  against  the  wanton  waste  of  the  public  lands  by  the 
graduation  bill.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  he  made  no  such  report. 
Neither  did  he  make  an  elaborate  report  to  prove  that,  by  taking 
off  fifty  cents  per  acre  on  one  hundred  millions  of  acres,  reducing 
two-fifths  of  their  entire  value,  the  revenue  would  be  increased. 
Oh  no ;  that  was  a  work  he  was  not  prepared  to  commit  even  to 
his  logic.  He  did  not  attempt  to  prove  that.  But  what  did  he 
do  ?  Why,  simply  presented  a  verbal  compendious  report,  re 
commending  that  the  bill  do  pass !  [A  general  laugh.]  And 
yet  that  Senator  can  rise  here — in  the  light  of  day — in  the  face 
of  this  Senate — in  the  face  of  his  country,  and  in  the  presence 
of  his  God — and  argue  for  retaining  and  husbanding  the  public 
lands,  to  raise  revenue  from  them  ! 

But  let  us  follow  these  revenue  gentlemen  a  little  further.  By 
one  of  the  strangest  phenomena  in  legislation  and  logic  that  was 
ever  witnessed,  these  very  Senators  who  are  so  utterly  opposed 
to  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among  all 
the  states,  because  it  is  distribution,  are  themselves  for  all  other 
sorts  of  distribution — for  cessions,  for  pre-emptions,  for  grants  to 
the  new  states  to  aid  them  in  education  and  improvement,  and 
even  for  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among 
particular  states.  They  are  for  distribution  in  all  conceivable 
forms  and  shapes,  so  long  as  the  lands  are  to  be  gotten  rid  of,  to 
particular  persons  or  particular  states.  But  when  an  equal,  gen 
eral,  broad,  and  just  distribution  is  proposed,  embracing  all  the 
states,  they  are  electrified  and  horror-struck.  You  may  distrib 
ute — and  distribute  among  states,  too — as  long  as  you  please, 
and  as  much  as  you  please,  but  not  among  all  the  States. 

And  here,  sir,  allow  me  to  examine  more  minutely  the  project 
of  cession,  brought  forward  as  the  rival  of  the  plan  of  distribu 
tion. 

There  are  upwards  of  one  billion  of  acres  of  public  land  be 
longing  to  the  United  States,  situated  within  and  without  the 
limits  of  the  states  and  territories,  stretching  from  the  Atlantic 
ocean  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Pacific ;  they  have  been  ce 
ded  by  seven  of  the  old  thirteen  states  to  the  United  States,  or 
acquired  by  treaties  with  foreign  powers.  The  Senator  from 
South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun)  proposes  by  his  bill  to  cede  one 
hundred  and  sixty  million  acres  of  this  land  to  the  nine  states 
wherein  they  lie,  granting  to  those  states  35  per  cent,  and  re 
serving  to  the  United  States  65  per  cent,  of  the  proceeds  of  those 
lands. 

Now  what  I  wish  to  say,  in  the  first  place,  is,  that,  if  you  com 
mence  by  applying  the  principle  of  cession  to  the  nine  land  states 
now  in  the  Union,  you  must  extend  it  to  other  new  states,  as  they 
shall  be,  hereafter,  from  time  to  time,  admitted  into  the  Union, 
until  the  whole  public  land  is  exhausted.  You  will  have  to  make 
similar  cessions  to  Wisconsin,  to  Iowa,  to  Florida,  (in  two  states, 


400  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

perhaps,  at  least  in  one,)  and  so  to  every  new  state  as  it  shall  be 
organized  and  received?  How  could  you  refuse?  When  other 
states  to  the  north  and  to  the  west  of  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Iowa, 
and  Wisconsin,  to  the  very  shores  of  the  Pacific,  shall  be  admit 
ted  into  the  confederacy,  will  you  not  be  bound  by  all  the  prin 
ciples  of  equality  and  justice  to  make  to  them  respectively  simi 
lar  cessions  of  the  public  land,  situated  within  their  limits,  to 
those  which  you  will  have  made  to  the  nine  states  ?  Thus  your 
present  grant,  although  extending  nominally  to  but  160,000,000 
acres,  virtually,  and  by  inevitable  consequence,  embraces  the 
whole  of  the  public  domain.  And  you  bestow  a  gratuity  of  35 
per  cent,  of  the  proceeds  of  this  vast  national  property  upon  a 
portion  of  the  states,  to  the  exclusion  and  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
revolutionary  states,  by  whose  valor  a  large  part  of  it  was 
achieved. 

Will  the  Senator  state  whence  he  derives  the  power  to  do  this? 
Will  he  pretend  that  it  is  to  cover  the  expenses  and  charges 
of  managing  and  administering  the  public  lands?  On  much  the 
greater  part,  nearly  the  whole,  of  the  160  millions  of  acres,  the 
Indian  title  has  been  extinguished,  and  they  have  been  surveyed. 
Nothing  but  a  trifling  expense  is  to  be  incurred  on  either  of  those 
objects  ;  and  nothing  remains  but  to  sell  the  land.  I  understand 
that  the  total  expense  of  sale  and  collection  is  only  about  two 
per  cent.  Why,  what  are  the  charges  ?  There  is  one  per  cent, 
allowed  by  law  to  the  receivers,  and  the  salaries  of  the  registers 
and  receivers  in  each  land  district,  with  some  other  inconsidera 
ble  incidental  charges.  Put  all  together,  and  they  will  not  amount 
to  three  per  cent  on  the  aggregate  of  sales.  Thus  the  Senator 
is  prepared  to  part  from  the  title  and  control  of  the  whole  public 
domain  upon  these  terms  !  To  give  thirty-five  per  cent,  to  cover 
an  expenditure  not  exceeding  three  !  Where  does  he  get  a  power 
to  make  this  cession  to  particular  states,  which  would  not  autho 
rise  distribution  among  all  the  states  ?  And  when  he  has  found 
the  power,  will  he  tell  me  why,  in  virtue  of  it,  and  in  the  same 
spirit  of  wasteful  extravagance  or  boundless  generosity,  he  may 
not  give  to  the  new  states,  instead  of  thirty-five  per  cent,  fifty, 
eighty,  or  a  hundred?  Surrender  at  once  the  whole  public  do 
main  to  the  new  states  ?  The  percentage,  proposed  to  be  allow 
ed,  seems  to  be  founded  on  no  just  basis,  the  result  of  no  official 
data  or  calculation,  but  fixed  by  mere  arbitrary  discretion.  I 
should  be  exceedingly  amused  to  see  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  rising  in  his  place,  and  maintaining  before  the  Senate 
an  authority  in  Congress  to  cede  the  public  lands  to  particular 
states,  on  the  terms  proposed,  and  at  the  same  time  denying  its 
power  to  distribute  the  proceeds  equally  and  equitably  among  all 
the  states. 

Now,  in  the  second  place,  although  there  is  a  nominal  reserva 
tion  of  sixty-five  per  cent,  of  the  proceeds  to  the  United  States, 
in  the  eequel,  I  venture  to  predict,  we  should  part  with  the 
whole.  You  vest  in  the  nine  states  the  title.  They  are  to  sell 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         401 

the  land  and  grant  titles  to  the  purchasers.  Now  what  security 
have  you  for  the  faithful  collection  and  payment  into  the  com 
mon  treasury  of  the  reserved  sixty-five  per  cent.  ?  In  what  me 
dium  would  the  payment  be  made?  Can  there  be  a  doubt 
that  there  would  be  delinquency,  collisions,  ultimate  surrender 
of  the  whole  debt?  It  is  proposed,  indeed,  to  retain  a  sort  of 
mortgage  upon  the  lands,  in  the  possession  of  purchasers  from 
the  state,  to  secure  the  payment  to  the  United  States  of  their 
sixty-five  per  cent.  But  how  could  you  enforce  such  a  mort 
gage?  Could  you  expel  from  their  homes  some,  perhaps 
100,000  settlers,  understate  authority,  because  the  state,  possibly 
without  any  fault  of  theirs,  had  neglected  to  pay  over  to  the 
United  States  the  sixty-five  per  cent?  The  remedy  of  expulsion 
would  be  fur  worse  than  the  relinquishment  of  the  debt,  and  you 
would  relinquish  it. 

There  is  no  novelty  in  this  idea  of  cession  to  the  new  states. 
The  form  of  it  is  somewhat  varied,  by  the  proposal  of  the  sena 
tor  to  divide  the  proceeds  between  the  new  states  and  the  United 
States,  but  it  is  still  substantially  the  same  thing — a  present 
cession  of  thirty-five  per  cent.,  and  an  ultimate  cession  of  the 
whole !  When  the  subject  of  the  public  lands  was  before  the 
committee  on  manufactures,  it  considered  the  scheme  of  cession 
among  the  other  various  projects  then  afloat.  The  report  made 
in  April,  1832.  presents  the  views  entertained  by  the  committee 
on  that  topic ;  and,  although  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  quoting 
from  my  own  productions,  I  trust  the  Senate  will  excuse  me  on 
this  occasion  for  availing  myself  of  what  was  then  said,  as  it  will 
at  least  enable  me  to  economize  my  breath  and  strength.  I  ask 
some  friend  to  read  the  following  passages:  [which  were  accor 
dingly  read  by  another  senator.] 

"  Whether  the  question  of  a  transfer  of  the  public  lands  be 
considered  in  a  limited  or  more  extensive  view  of  it  which  has 
been  stated,  it  is  one  of  the  highest  importance,  and  demanding 
the  most  deliberate  consideration.  From  the  statements,  founded 
on  official  reports,  made  in  the  preceding  part  of  this  report,  it 
has  been  seen  that  the  quantity  of  unsold  and  unappropriated 
lands  lying  within  the  limits  of  the  new  states  and  territories  is 
340,871,753  acres,  and  the  quantity  beyond  those  limits  is 
750,000,000,  presenting  an  aggregate  of  1,090.871,753  acres.  It 
is  difficult  to  conceive  a  question  of  greater  magnitude  than  that 
of  relinquishing  this  immense  amount  of  national  property. 
Estimating  its  value  according  to  the  minimum  price,  it  presents 
the  enormous  sum  of  $1,363,589,691.  If  it  be  said  that  a  large 
portion  of  it  will  never  command  that  price,  it  is  to  be  observed 
on  the  other  hand,  that,  as  fresh  lands  are  brought  into  market 
and  exposed  to  sale  at  public  auction,  many  of  them  sell  at 
prices  exceeding  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre.  Supposing 
the  public  lands  to  be  worth,  on  the  average,  one  half  of  the 
minimum  price,  they  would  still  present  the  immense  sum  of 


402  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE 

$681,794,845.  The  least  favorable  view  which  can  be  taken  of 
them  is,  that  of  considering  them  a  capital  yielding,  at  present, 
an  income  of  three  millions  of  dollars  annually.  Assuming  the 
ordinary  rate  of  six  per  cent,  interest  per  annum  as  the  standard 
to  ascertain  the  amount  of  that  capital,  it  would  be  fifty  millions 
of  dollars.  But  this  income  has  been  progressively  increasing. 
The  average  increase  during  the  six  last  years  has  been  at  the 
rate  of  twenty-three  per  cent,  per  annum.  Supposing  it  to  con 
tinue  in  the  same  ratio,  at  the  end  of  a  little  more  than  four 
years  the  income  would  be  double,  and  make  the  capital 
$100,000,000.  Whilst  the  population  of  the  United  States  in 
creases  only  three  per  cent,  per  annum,  the  increase  of  the  de 
mand  for  the  public  lands  is  at  the  rate  of  twenty-three  per  cent 
furnishing  another  evidence  that  the  progress  of  emigration  and 
the  activity  of  sales  have  not  been  checked  by  the  price  demand 
ed  by  government. 

'  "In  \vhatever  light,  therefore,  this  great  subject  is  viewed,  the 
transfer  of  the  public  lands  from  the  whole  people  of  the  United 
States,  for  whose  benefit  they  are  now  held,  to  the  people  in 
habiting  the  new  states,  must  be  regarded  as  the  most  moment 
ous  measure  ever  presented  to  the  consideration  of  Congress. 
If  such  a  measure  could  find  any  justification,  it  must  arise  out 
of  some  radical  and  incurable  defect  in  the  construction  of  the 
general  government  properly  to  administer  the  public  domain. 
But  the  existence  of  any  such  defect  is  contradicted  by  the  most 
successful  experience.  No  branch  of  the  public  service  has 
evinced  more  system,  uniformity  and  Avisdom,  or  given  more 
general  satisfaction,  than  that  of  the  administration  of  the  public 
lands. 

"  If  the  proposed  cession  to  the  new  states  were  to  be  made 
at  a  fair  price,  such  as  the  general  government  could  obtain  from 
individual  purchasers  under  the  present  system,  there  would  be 
no  motive  for  it,  unless  the  new  states  are  more  competent  to 
dispose  of  the  public  lands  than  the  common  government.  They 
are  now  sold  under  one  uniform  plan,  regulated  and  controlled 
by  a  single  legislative  authority,  and  the  practical  operation  is 
perfectly  understood.  If  they  were  transferred  to  the  new  states, 
the  subsequent  disposition  would  be  according  to  laws  emana 
ting  from  various  legislative  sources.  Competition  would  proba 
bly  arise  between  the  new  states  in  the  terms  which  they  would 
offer  to  purchasers.  Each  state  would  be  desirous  of  inviting 
the  greatest  number  of  emigrants,  not  only  for  the  laudable 
purpose  of  populating  rapidly  its  own  territories,  but  with  the 
view  to  the  acquisition  of  funds  to  enable  it  to  fulfil  its  engage 
ments  with  the  general  government.  Collisions  between  the 
states  would  probably  arise,  and  their  injurious  consequences 
may  be  imagined.  A  spirit  of  hazardous  speculation  would  be 
engendered.  Various  schemes  in  the  new  states  would  be  put 
afloat  to  sell  or  divide  the  public  lands.  Companies  and  combi 
nations  wouid  be  formed  in  this  country,  if  not  in  foreign  coun- 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         403 

tries,  presenting  gigantic  and  tempting,  but  delusive  projects; 
and  the  history  of  legislation,  in  some  of  the  states  of  the  Union, 
admonishes  us  that  a  too  ready  ear  is  sometimes  given  by  a 
majority,  in  a  legislative  assembly,  to  such  projects. 

"A  decisive  objection  to  such  a  transfer,  for  a  fair  equivalent, 
is,  that  it  would  establish  a  new  and  dangerous  relation  between 
the  general  government  and  the  new  states.  In  abolishing  the 
credit  which  had  been  allowed  to  purchasers  of  the  public  lands 
prior  to  the  year  1820,  Congress  was  principally  governed  by 
the  consideration  of  the  expediency  and  hazard  of  accumulating 
a  large  amount  of  debt  in  the  new  states,  all  bordering  on  each 
)ther.  Such  an  accumulation  was  deemed  unwise  and  unsafe. 
It  presented  a  new  bond  of  interest,  of  sympathy,  and  of  union, 
partially  operating  to  the  possible  prejudice  of  the  common  bond 
of  the  whole  Union.  But  that  debt  was  a  debt  due  from  indi 
viduals,  and  it  was  attended  with  this  encouraging  security,  that 
purchasers,  as  they  successively  completed  the  payments  for 
their  lands,  would  naturally  be  disposed  to  aid  the  government 
in  enforcing  payment  from  delinquents.  The  project  which  the 
committee  are  now  considering  is,  to  sell  to  the  states,  in  their 
sovereign  character,  and,  consequently,  to  render  them  public 
debtors  to  the  general  government  to  an  immense  amount.  This 
would  inevitably  create  between  the  debtor  states  a  common 
feeling  and  a  common  interest,  distinct  from  the  rest  of  the 
Union.  These  states  are  all  in  the  western  and  south-western 
quarter  of  the  Union,  remotest  from  the  centre  of  federal  power. 
The  debt  would  be  felt  as  a  load  from  which  they  would  con 
stantly  be  desirous  to  relieve  themselves;  and  it  would  operate 
as  a  strong  temptation,  weakening,  if  not  dangerous,  to  the  ex 
isting  confederacy.  The  committee  have  the  most  animating 
hopes  and  the  greatest  confidence  in  the  strength,  and  power, 
and  durability  of  our  happy  Union;  and  the  attachment  and 
warm  affection  of  every  member  of  the  confederacy  cannot  be 
doubted;  but  we  have  authority,  higher  than  human,  for  the 
instruction  that  it  is  wise  to  avoid  all  temptation. 

"  In  the  state  of  Illinois,  with  a  population  at  the  last  census 
of  157,445,  there  are  31,395,669  acres  of  public  land,  including 
that  part  on  which  the  Indian  title  remains  to  be  extinguished. 
If  we  suppose  it  to  be  worth  only  half  the  minimum  price,  it 
would  amount  to  $19,622,480.  How  would  that  state  be  able  to 
pay  such  an  enormous  debt  ?  How  could  it  pay  even  the  annual 
interest  upon  it? 

Supposing  the  debtor  states  to  fail  to  comply  with  their  en 
gagements,  in  what  mode  could  they  be  enforced  by  the  general 
government  ?  In  treaties  between  independent  nations,  the  ulti 
mate  remedy  is  well  known.  The  apprehension  of  an  appeal  to 
that  remedy,  seconding  the  sense  of  justice  and  the  regard  for 
character  which  prevail  among  Christian  and  civilized  nations, 
constitutes,  generally,  adequate  security  for  the  performance  of 
national  compacts.  But  this  last  remedy  would  be  totally  mad- 


404  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE 

missible  in  case  of  a  delinquency  on  the  part  of  the  debtor  states. 
The  relations  between  the  general  government  and  the  members 
of  the  confederacy  are  happily  those  of  peace,  friendship  and 
fraternity,  and  exclude  all  idea  of  force  and  war.  Could  the 
judiciary  coerce  the  debtor  states?  On  what  could  their  process 
operate  ?  Could  the  property  of  innocent  citizens,  residing  with 
in  the  limits  of  those  states,  be  justly  seized  by  the  general  gov 
ernment,  and  held  responsible  for  debts  contracted  by  the  states 
themselves  in  their  sovereign  character?  If  a  mortgage  upon 
the  lands  ceded  were  retained,  that  mortgage  would  prevent,  or 
retard  subsequent  sales  by  the  slates;  and  if  individuals  bought, 
subject  to  the  encumbrance,  a  parental  government  could  never 
resort  to  the  painful  measure  of  disturbing  them  in  their  posses 
sions. 

"Delinquency,  on  the  part  of  the  debtor  states,  would  be  in 
evitable,  and  there  would  be  no  effectual  remedy  for  the  delin 
quency.  They  would  come  again  and  again  to  Congress, 
soliciting  time  and  indulgence,  until,  finding  the  weight  of  the 
debt  intolerable,  Congress,  wearied  by  reiterated  applications  for 
relief,  would  finally  resolve  to  spurige  the  debt;  or,  if  Congress 
attempted  to  enforce  its  payment,  another  and  a  worse  alterna 
tive  would  be  embraced. 

"If  the  proposed  cession  be  made  for  a  price  merely  nominal, 
it  would  be  contrary  to  the  express  conditions  of  the  original 
cessions  from  primitive  states  to  Congress,  and  contrary  to  the 
obligations  which  the  general  government  stands  under  to  the 
whole  people  of  these  United  States,  arising  out  of  the  fact  that 
the  acquisitions  of  Louisiana  and  Florida,  and  from  Georgia, 
were  obtained  at  a  great  expense,  borne  from  the  common 
treasure,  and  incurred  for  the  common  benefit.  Such  a  gratui 
tous  cession  could  not  be  made  without  a  positive  violation  of  a 
solemn  trust,  and  without  manifest  injustice  to  the  old  states. 
And  its  inequality  among  the  new  states  would  be  as  marked 
as  its  injustice,  to  the  old  would  be  indefensible.  Thus  Missouri, 
with  a  population  of  140,455,  would  acquire  38,292,151  acres; 
and  the  state  of  Ohio,  with  a  population  of  935,884,  would  obtain 
only  5,586  831  acres.  Supposing  a  division  of  the  land  among 
the  citizens  of  those  two  states  respectively;  the  citizen  of  Ohio 
would  obtain  less  than  six  acres  for  his  share,  and  the  citizen 
of  Missouri  upwards  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-two  acres  as 
his  proporfioa. 

"Upon  lull  and  thorough  consideration,  the  committee  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  inexpedient  either  to  reduce  the 
price  of  the  public  lands,  or  to  cede  them  to  the  new  states. — 
They  believe,  on  the  contrary,  that  sound  policy  coincides  with 
the  duty  which  has  devolved  on  the  general  government  to  the 
whole  of  the  states,  and  the  whole  of  the  people  of  the  Union, 
and  enjoins  the  preservation  of  the  existing  system,  as  having 
been  tried  and  approved,  after  long  avul  triumphant  experience. 
But,  in  consequence  of  the  extraordinary  financial  prosperity 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         405 

which  the  United  States  enjoys,  the  question  merits  examination 
whether,  whilst  the  general  government  steadily  retains  the  con- 
tro-1  of  this  great  national  resource  in  its  own  hands,  after  the 
payment  of  the  public  debt,  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands  no  longer  needed  to  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  of 
government,  may  not  be  beneficially  appropriated  to  some  other 
objects  for  a  limited  time." 

The  Senator  from  New-York  has  adverted,  for  another  pur 
pose,  to  the  twenty-eight  millions  of  surplus  divided  a  few  years 
ago  among  the  states.  He  has  said  truly  that  it  arose  from  the 
public  lands.  Was  not  that,  in  effect,  distribution  ?  Was  it  not 
so  understood  at  the  time?  Was  it  not  voted  for,  by  Senators,  as 
practical  distribution?  The  Senator  from  North  Carolina  (Mr. 
Mangum)  has  stated  that  he  did.  laid.  Other  Senators  did; 
and  no  one,  not  the  boldest,  will  have  the  temerity  to  rise  here 
and  propose  to  require  or  compel  the  states  to  refund  that  money. 
If,  in  form,  it  was  a  deposite  with  the  states,  in  fact  and  in  truth 
it  was  distribution.  So  it  was  then  regarded.  So  it  will  ever 
remain. 

Let  us  now  see,  Mr.  President,  how  this  plan  of  cession  will  ope 
rate  among  the  new  states  themselves.  And  I  appeal  more  espe 
cially  to  the  Senators  from  Ohio.  That  state  has  about  a  mil 
lion  and  a  half  of  inhabitants.  The  United  States  have  (as  will 
probably  be  shown  when  the  returns  are  published  of  the  late 
census*)  a  population  of  about  fifteen  millions.  Ohio,  then,  has 
within  her  limits  one  tenth  part  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  Now,  let  us  see  what  sort  of  a  bargain  the  proposed 
cession  makes  for  Ohio. 

[Mr.  Allen  here  interposed,  to  explain,  that  the  vote  he  gave 
for  Mr.  Calhoun's  plan  of  cession  to  the  new  states  was  on  the 
ground  of  substituting  that  in  preference  to  the  plan  of  distribu 
tion  among  all  the  states.] 

Oh!  ho! — ah!  is  that  the  ground  of  the  Senator's  vote? 

[Mr.  Allen  said  he  had  had  a  choice  between  two  evils — the 
amendment  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  and  the  amend 
ment  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky ;  and  it  was  well  known  on 
this  side  of  the  house  that  he  took  the  first  only  as  a  less  evil 
than  the  last.] 

Well;  all  I  will  say  is,  that  that  side  of  the  house  kept  the 
secret  remarkably  well.  [Loud  laughter.]  And  no  one  better 
than  the  Senator  himself.  There  were  seventeen  votes  given  in 
favor  of  the  plan  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  to  my 
utter  astonishment  at  the  time.  I  had  not  expected  any  other 
vote  for  it  but  that  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  himself, 
and  the  Senator  from  Michigan,  (Mr.  Norvcll.)  No  other  did,  or 
I  suppose  would  rise  and  vote  to  cede  away,  without  any  just  or 

*  The  result  of  the  returns  has  since  been  announced,  and  it  shows  n  population 
of  rising  seventeen  millions.  Still  Ohio  has  the  proportion  supposed,  of  about  one- 
tenth  of  the  population,  according  to  federal  numbers,  which  furnish  the  rate  pro 
posed  for  distribution. 


4t)6  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

certain  equivalent,  more  than  a  billion  of  acres  of  public  land  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  If  the  vote  of  the  other  fifteen 
Senators  was  also  misunderstood,  in  the  same  way  as  the  Sena 
tors  from  Ohio,  I  shall  be  very  glad  of  it. 

But  I  was  going  to  show  what  sort  of  a  bargain  for  Ohio  her 
two  Senators,  by  their  votes,  appeared  to  be  assenting  to.  There 
are  800,000  acres  of  public  land  remaining  in  Ohio,  after  being 
culled  for  near  half  a  century,  thirty-five  per  cent,  of  the  proceeds 
of  which  are  to  be  assigned  to  that  state  by  the  plan  of  ces 
sion.  For  this  trifling  consideration  she  is  to  surrender  her 
interest  in  160,000,000  of  acres — in  other  words,  she  is  to  give 
16,000,000,  (that  being  her  tenth,)  for  the  small  'interest  secured 
to  her  in  the  800,000  acres.  If,  as  1  believe  and  have  contended, 
the  principle  of  cession,  being  once  established,  would  be  finally 
extended  to  the  whole  public  domain,  then  Ohio  would  g-ive  one 
hundred  millions  of  acres  of  land,  (that  being  her  tenth  part  of 
the  whole  of  the  public  lands,  for  the  comparatively  contemptible 
consideration  that  she  would  acquire  in  the  800,000  acres.  A 
capital  bargain  this,  to  which  I  supposed  the  two  Senators  had 
assented,  by  which,  in  behalf  of  their  state,  they  exchanged  one 
hundred  millions  of  acres  of  land  against  eight  hundred  thou 
sand  !  [A  laugh.] 

I  do  not  think  that  the  Senator's  explanation  mends  the  mat 
ter  much.  According  to  that,  he  did  not  vote  for  cession  because 
he  liked  cession.  No !  that  is  very  bad,  but,  bad  as  it  may  be, 
it  is  not  so  great  an  evil  as  distribution,  and  he  preferred  it  to 
distribution.  Let  us  see  what  Ohio  would  get  by  distribution. 
Assuming  that  the  public  lands  will  yield  only  five  millions  of 
dollars  annually,  her  proportion,  being  one-tenth,  would  be  half  a 
million  of  dollars.  But  I  entertain  no  doubt  that,  under  proper 
management,  in  a  few  years  the  public  lands  will  produce  a 
much  larger  sum,  perhaps  ten  or  fifteen  millions  of  dollars:  so 
that  the  honorable  Senator  prefers  giving  away  for  a  song  the 
interest  of  his  state,  presently,  in  160,000,000  of  acres,  and  even 
tually  in  a  billion,  to  receiving  annually,  in  perpetuity,  half 
a  million  of  dollars,  with  an  encouraging  prospect  of  a  large 
augmentation  of  that  sum.  That  is  the  notion  which  the  two 
Senators  from  Ohio  entertain  of  her  interest !  Go  home,  Mes 
sieurs  Senators  from  Ohio,  and  tell  your  constituents  of  your 
votes.  Tell  them  of  your  preference  of  a  cession  of  all  their 
interest  in  the  public  lands,  with  the  exception  of  that  inconside 
rable  portion  remaining  in  Ohio,  to  the  reception  of  Ohio's  fair 
distributive  share  of  the  proceeds  of  all  the  public  lands  of  the 
United  States,  now  and  hereafter.  I  do  not  seek  to  interfere  in 
the  delicate  relation  between  Senators  and  their  constituents; 
but  I  think  I  know  something  of  the  feelings  and  views  of  my 
neighbors,  the  people  of  Ohio.  I  have  recently  read  an  exposi 
tion  of  her  true  interests  and  views  in  the  message  of  her  en 
lightened  Governor,  directly  contrary  to  those  which  appear  to 
be  entertatned  by  her  two  Senators ;  and  I  am  greatly  deceived 


PROCEEDS  OP  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.        407 

if  a  large  majority  of  the  people  of  that  state  do  not  coincide 
with  their  Governor. 

The  unequal  operation  of  the  plan  of  cession  among  the  nine 
new  states  has  been,  perhaps,  sufficiently  exposed  by  others. 
The  states  with  the  smallest  population  get  the  most  land.  Thus 
Arkansas,  with  only  about  one-fifteenth  part  of  the  population, 
of  Ohio,  will  receive  upwards  of  twenty-eight  times  as  much 
land  as  Ohio.  The  scheme  proceeds  upon  the  idea  of  reversing 
the  maxim  of  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,  and  01 
substituting  the  greatest  good  to  the  smallest  number. 

There  can  be  every  species  of  partial  distribution  of  public 
land  or  its  proceeds  but  an  honest,  impartial,  straight-forward 
distribution  among  all  the  states.  Can  the  Senator  from  New- 
York,  with  his  profound  knowledge  of  the  constitution,  tell  me 
on  what  constitutional  authority  it  is  that  lands  are  granted 
to  the  Indians  beyond  the  Mississippi  ? 

[Mr.  Wright  said  that  there  was  no  property  acquired,  and 
therefore  no  constitutional  obligation  applied.] 

And  that  is  the  amount  of  the  Senator's  information  of  our 
Indian  relations!  Why,  sir,  we  send  them  across  the  Mississip 
pi,  and  put  them  upon  our  lands,  from  which  all  Indian  title  had 
been  removed.  We  promise  them  oven  the  fee  simple ;  but,  if 
we  did  not,  they  are  at  least  to  retain  the  possession  and  enjoy 
the  use  of  the  lands  until  they  choose  to  sell  them ;  and  the 
whole  amount  of  our  right  would  be  a  pre-emption  privilege  of 
purchase,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  private  persons  or  public  au 
thorities,  foreign  or  domestic.  This  is  the  doctrine  coeval  with 
Che  colonization  of  this  continent,  proclaimed  by  the  king  of 
Great  Britain,  in  his  proclamation  of  1763,  asserted  in  the  con 
ferences  at  Ghent,  and  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  Now,  such  an  allotment  of  public  lands  to  the 
Indians,  whether  they  acquire  'the  fee  or  a  right  of  possession 
indefinite  as  to  time,  is  equivalent  to  any  distribution. 

Thus.  sir.  we  perceive,  that  all  kinds  of  distribution  of  the  public 
lands  or  their  proceeds  may  be  made — to  particular  states,  to  pre- 
emptioners,  to  charities,  to  objects  of  education  or  internal  improve 
ment,  to  foreigners,  to  Indiana,  to  black,  red,  white,  and  gray,  to 
every  body,  but  among  all  the.  states  of  the  Union.  There  is  an  old 
adage,  according  to  which  charity  should  begin  at  home ;  but, 
according  to  the  doctrines  of  the  opponents  of  distribution,  it  nei 
ther  begins  nor  ends  at  home. 

[Here  Mr.  Clay  gave  way  to  an  adjournment] 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  inflict  upon  the  Senate  even  a  reca 
pitulation  of  the  heads  of  argument  which  I  had  the  honor  to 
address  to  it  yesterday.  On  one  collateral  point  I  desire  to  sup 
ply  an  omission  as  to  the  trade  between  this  country  and  France. 
I  stated  the  fact  that,  according  to  the  returns  of  imports  and  ex 
ports,  there  existed  an  unfavorable  balance  against  the  United 
States,  amounting,  exclusively  of  what  is  re-exported,  to  seven 
teen  mil  lions  of  dollars ;  but  I  omitted  another  important  fact, 


403  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

namely,  that,  by  the  laws  of  France,  there  is  imposed  on  the  raw 
material  imported  into  that  kingdom  a  duty  of  twenty  francs  on 
every  hundred  kilogrammes,  equal  to  about  two  cents  per  pound 
on  American  cotton,  at  the  present  market  price.  Now  what  is 
the  fact  as  to  the  comparative  rate  of  duties  in  the  two  countries  ? 
France  imposes  on  the  raw  product  (which  is  the  mere  com 
mencement  of  value  in  articles  which,  when  wrought  and  finally 
touched,  will  be  worth  two  or  three  hundred  fold)  a  duty  of  near 
twenty  five  per  cent.,  while  we  admit,  free  of  duty,  or  with  nomi 
nal  duties,  costly  luxuries,  the  product  of  French  industry  and 
taste,  wholly  unsusceptible  of  any  additional  value  by  any  exer 
tion  of  American  skill  or  industry.  In  any  thing  I  have  said  on 
this  occasion,  nothing  is  further  "from  my  intention  than  to  utter 
one  word  unfriendly  to  France.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  been 
always  my  desire  to  see  our  trade  with  France  increased  and 
extended  upon  terms  of  reciprocal  benefit.  With  that  view,  I 
was  in  favor  of  an  arrangement  in  the  tariff  of  1832,  by  which 
silks  imported  into  the  United  States  from  beyond  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  were  charged  with  a  duty  of  ten  per  cent,  higher 
than  those  brought  from  France  and  countries  this  side  the  cape, 
especially  to  encourage  the  commerce  with  France. 

While  speaking  of  France,  allow  me  to  make  an  observation, 
although  it  has  no  immediate  or  legitimate  connexion  with  any 
thing  before  the  Senate.  It  is  to  embrace  the  opportunity  of  ex 
pressing  my  deep  regret  at  a  sentiment  attributed  by  the  public 
journals  to  a  highly  distinguished  and  estimable  countryman  of 
ours  in  another  part  of  the  capital,  which  implied  a  doubt  as  to  the 
validity  of  the  title  of  Louis  Phillippe  to  the  throne  of  France, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  neither  acquired  by  conquest  nor  descent,  and 
raising  a  question  as  to  his  being  the  lawful  monarch  of  the 
French  people.  It  appears  to  me  that,  after  the  memorable  re 
volution  of  July,  in  which  our  illustrious  and  lamented  friend, 
Lafayette,  bore  a  part  so  eminent  arid  effectual,  and  the  subse 
quent  hearty  acquiescence  of  all  France  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Orleans  branch  of  the  house  of  Bourbon  upon  the  throne,  the 
present  king  has  as  good  a  title  to  his  crown  as  any  of  the  other 
sovereigns  of  Europe  have  to  theirs,  and  quite  as  good  as  any 
which  force  or  the  mere  circumstance  of  birth  could  confer.  And 
if  an  individual  so  humble  and  at  such  a  distance  as  I  am,  might 
be  allowed  to  express  an  opinion  on  the  public  concerns  of  anoth 
er  country  and  another  hemisphere,  I  would  add  that  no  Chief 
Magistrate  of  any  nation,  amidst  difficulties,  public  and  personal, 
the  most  complicated  and  appalling,  could  have  governed  with 
more  ability,  wisdom  and  firmness  than  have  been  displayed  by 
Louis  Phillippe.  All  Christendom  owes  him  an  acknowledgment 
for  his  recent  successful  efforts  to  prevent  a  war  which  would 
have  been  disgraceful  to  Christian  Europe — a  war  arising  from 
the  inordinate  pretensions  of  an  upstart  Mahometan  Pacha,  a  re 
bel  against  his  lawful  sovereign  and  a  usurper  of  his  rights — a 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         409 

<var  which,  if  once  lighted  up,  must  have  involved  all  Europe, 
and  have  led  to  consequences  which  it  is  impossible  to  foresee. 

I  return  to  the  subject  immediately  before  us. 

In  tracing  the  history  of  that  portion  of  our  public  domain  which 
was  acquired  by  the  war  of  the  revolution,  we  should  always  re 
collect  the  danger  to  the  peace  and  harmony  among  the  mem 
bers  of  the  confederacy  with  which  it  was  pregnant.  It  prevent 
ed  for  a  long  time  the  ratification  of  the  articles  of  confederation 
by  all  the  states,  some  of  them  refusing  their  assent  until  a  just 
and  equitable  settlement  was  made  of  the  question  of  the  crown 
lands.  The  argument  they  urged  as  to  these  lands,  in  a  waste 
and  unappropriated  state,  was,  that  they  had  been  conquered  by 
the  common  valor,  the  common  exertions,  and  the  common  sacri 
fices  of  all  the  states ;  that  they  ought  therefore  to  be  the  com 
mon  property  of  all  the  states,  and  that  it  would  be  manifestly 
wrong  and  unjust  that  the  states  within  whose  limits  these  crown 
lands  happened  to  lie  should  exclusively  enjoy  the  benefit  of 
them.  Virginia,  within  whose  boundaries  by  far  the  greater  part 
of  these  crown  lands  were  situated,  and  by  whose  separate  and 
unaided  exertions  on  the  bloody  theatre  of  Kentucky  and  beyond 
the  Ohio,  under  the  direction  of  the  renowned  George  Rogers 
Clarke,  the  conquest  of  most  of  them  was  achieved,  was,  to  her 
immortal  honor,  among  the  first  to  yield  to  these  just  and  patri 
otic  views,  and  by  her  magnificent  grant  to  the  Union,  powerfully 
contributed  to  restore  harmony,  and  quietall  apprehensions  among 
the  several  states. 

Among  the  objects  to  be  attained  by  the  cession  from  the  states 
to  the  confederation  of  these  crown  lands,  a  very  important  one 
was  to  provide  a  fund  to  pay  the  debts  of  the  revolution.  The 
Senator  from  New  York  (Mr.  Wright)  made  it  the  object  of  a 
large  part  of  the  argument  which  he  addressed  to  the  Senate,  to 
show  the  contrary ;  and  so  far  as  the  mere  terms  of  the  deeds  of 
cession  are  concerned,  I  admit  the  argument  was  sustained.  No 
such  purpose  appears  on  the  face  of  the  deeds,  as  far  as  I  have 
examined  them. 

[Mr.  Wright  here  interposed,  and  said  that  he  had  not  under 
taken  to  argue  that  the  cessions  made  by  the  states  to  the  Union 
were  not  for  the  purpose  of  extinguishing  the  public  debt,  but 
that  they  were  not  exclusively  for  that  purpose.] 

It  is  not  material  whether  they  were  made  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  extinguishing  the  revolutionary  debt  or  not.  I  think  I  shall  be 
able  to  show,  in  the  progress  of  my  argument,  that,  from  the  mo 
ment  of  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution,  the  proceeds  of 
the  public  lands  ought  to  have  been  divided  among  the  states. 

But  that  the  payment  of  the  revolutionary  debt  was  one  of  the 
objects  of  the  cession,  is  a  matter  of  incontestable  history.  We 
should  have  an  imperfect  idea  of  the  intentions  of  the  parties  if 
we  confined  our  attention  to  the  mere  language  of  the  deeds.  In 
order  to  ascertain  their  views,  we  must  examine  contemporana- 


410  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

ous  acts,  resolutions  and  proceedings.  One  of  these  resolutions, 
clearly  manifesting  the  purpose  I  have  stated,  has  probably  es 
caped  the  notice  of  the  Senator  from  New-York.  It  was  a  reso 
lution  of  the  old  Congress,  adopted  in  April,  1783,  preceding  the 
final  cession  from  Virginia,  which  was  in  March,  1784.  There 
had  been  an  attempt  to  make  the  cession  as  early  as  1781,  but, 
owing  to  the  conditions  with  which  it  was  embarrassed,  and  oth 
er  difficulties,  the  cession  was  not  consummated  until  March, 
1784.  The  resolution  I  refer  to  bears  a  date  prior  to  that  of  the 
cession,  and  must  be  taken  with  it,  as  indicative  of  the  motives 
which  probably  operated  on  Virginia  to  make,  and  the  confede 
ration  to  accept,  that  memorable  grant.  I  will  read  it: 

Resolved^  That  as  a  further  mean,  as  well  of  hastening  the 
extinguishment  of  the  debts  as  of  establishing  the  harmony  of  the 
United  States,  it  be  recommended  to  the  states  which  have  pass 
ed  no  acts  towards  complying  with  the  resolutions  of  Congress 
of  the  6th  of  September  and  10th  of  October,  1780,  relative  to  the 
cession  of  territorial  claims,  to  make  the  liberal  cessions  therein 
recommended,  and  to  the  states  which  may  have  passed  acts 
complying  with  the  said  resolutions  in  part  only,  to  revise  and 
complete  such  compliance. 

That  was  one  of  the  great  objects  of  the  cession.  Seven  of 
the  old  thirteen  states  had  waste  crown  lands  within  their  limits  j 
the  other  six  had  none.  These  complained  that  what  ought  to 
be  regarded  as  property  common  to  them  all  would  accrue  ex 
clusively  to  the  seven  states,  by  the  operation  of  the  articles  of 
confederation ;  and,  therefore,  for  the  double  purpose  of  extin 
guishing  the  revolutionary  debt,  and  of  establishing  harmony 
among  the  states  of  the  Union,  the  cession  of  those  lands  to  the 
United  States  was  recommended  by  Congress. 

And  here  let  us  pause  for  a  moment,  and  contemplate  the  pro 
position  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  and  its  possible  con 
sequences.  We  have  seen  that  the  possession  by  seven  states 
of  these  public  lands,  won  by  the  valor  of  the  whole  thirteen.  wa« 
cause  of  so  much  dissatisfaction  to  the  other  six  as  to  have  occa 
sioned  a  serious  impediment  to  the  formation  of  the  confederacy  j 
and  we  have  seen  that,  to  remove  all  jealousy  and  disquietude 
on  that  account,  in  conformity  with  the  recommendation  of  Con 
gress,  the  seven  states,  Virginia  taking  the  lead,  animated  by  a 
noble  spirit  of  justice  and  patriotism,  ceded  the  waste  lands  to 
the  United  States  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  states.  Now  what  is 
the  measure  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  ?  It  is  in  effect 
to  restore  the  discordant  and  menacing  state  of  things  which  ex 
isted  in  1.783,  prior  to  any  cession  from  the  states.  It  is  worse 
than  that.  For  it  proposes  that  seventeen  states  shall  give  up 
immediately  or  eventually  all  their  interest  in  the  public  lands, 
lying  in  nine  states,  to  those  nine  states.  Now  if  the  seven  states 
had  refused  to  cede  at  all,  they  could  at  least  have  asserted  that 
they  fought  Great  Britain  for  these  lands  as  hard  as  the  six. — 
They  would  have  had,  therefore,  the  apparent  right  of  conquest. 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         411 

although  it  was  a  common  conquest.  But  the  Senator's  propo 
sition  is  to  cede  these  public  lands  from  the  states  which  tought 
for  them  in  the  revolutionary  war,  to  states  that  neither  fought 
for  them  nor  had  existence  during  that  war.  If  the  apprehension 
of  an  appropriation  of  these  lands  to  the  exclusive  advantage  of 
the  seven  states  was  nigh  preventing  the  establishment  of  tho 
Union,  can  it  be  supposed  that  its  security  and  harmony  will  be 
unaffected  by  a  transfer  of  them  from  seventeen  to  nine  states  ? 
But  the  Senator's  proposition  goes  yet  further.  It  has  been  shown 
that  it  will  establish  a  precedent,  which  must  lead  to  a  cession 
from  the  United  States  of  all  the  public  domain,  whether  won  by 
the  sword  or  acquired  by  treaties  with  foreign  powers,  to  new 
states,  as  they  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union. 

In  the  second  volume  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  will  be 
found  the  act,  known  as  the  funding  act,  which  passed  in  the 
year  1790.  By  the  last  section  of  that  act  the  public  lands  are 
pledged,  and  pledged  exclusively,  to  the  payment  of  the  revolu 
tionary  debt  until  it  should  be  satisfied.  Thus  we  find,  prior  to 
the  cession,  an  invitation  from  Congress  to  the  states  to  cede  the 
waste  lands,  among  other  objects,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the 
public  debt ;  and,  ai'ter  the  cessions  were  made,  one  of  the  earli 
est  acts  of  Congress  pledged  them  to  that  object.  So  the  matter 
stood  whilst  that  debt  hung  over  us.  During  all  that  time  there 
was  a  general  acquiescence  in  the  dedication  of  the  public  lands 
to  that  just  object.  No  one  thought  of  disturbing  the  arrange 
ment.  But  when  the  debt  was  discharged,  or  rather  when,  from 
the  rapidity  of  the  process  of  its  extinction,  it  was  evident  that 
it  would  soon  be  discharged,  attention  was  directed  to  a  proper 
disposition  of  the  public  lands.  No  one  doubted  the  power  of 
Congress  to  dispose  of  them  according  to  its  sound  discretion. — 
Such  was  the  view  of  President  Jackson,  distinctly  communica 
ted  to  Congress,  in  the  message  which  I  have  already  cited. 

"  As  the  lands  may  now  be  considered  as  relieved  from  this 
pledge,  the  object  for  which  they  \vere  ceded  having  been  ac 
complished,  it  is  in  the  discretion  of  Congress  to  dispose  of  them 
in  such  wray  as  best  to  conduce  to  the  quiet,  harmony,  and  gen 
eral  interest  of  the  American  people." 

Can  the  power  of  Congress  to  dispose  of  the  public  domain 
be  more  broadly  asserted  1  What  was  then  said  about  reve 
nue  ?  That  it  should  cease  to  be  a  source  of  revenue !  We 
never  hear  of  the  revenue  argument  but  when  the  proposition 
is  up  to  make  an  equal  and  just  distribution  of  the  proceeds. 
When  the  favorable,  but,  as  I  regard  them,  wild  and  squander 
ing  projects  of  gentlemen  are  under  consideration,  they  are 
profoundly  silent  as  to  that  argument. 

I  come  now  to  an  examination  of  the  terms  on  which  the  ces 
sion  was  made  by  the  states,  as  contained  in  the  deeds  of  cession. 
And  I  shall  take  that  from  Virginia,  because  it  was  in  some 
measure  the  model  deed,  and  because  it  conveyed  by  far  the 
most  important  part  of  the  public  lands  acquired  from  the  ceding 


412  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

states.  I  will  first  dispose  of  a  preliminary  difficulty  raised  by 
the  senator  from  New- York.  That  senator  imagined  a  case, 
and  then  combattecl  it  with  great  force.  The  case  he  supposed 
was,  that  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  and  I  had  maintained 
that,  under  that  deed,  there  was  a  reversion  to  the  states,  and 
much  of  his  argument  was  directed  to  prove  that  there  is 
no  reversion,  but  that  if  there  were,  it  could  only  be  to  the  ceding 
states.  Now  neither  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  nor  I  at 
tempted  to  erect  any  such  windmill  as  the  senator  from  New- 
York  has  imagined,  and  he  might  have  spared  himself  the 
heavy  blows  which,  like  another  famed  hero,  not  less  valorous 
than  himself,  he  dealt  upon  it.  What  I  really  maintain  and 
have  always  maintained  is,  that  according  to  the  terms  them 
selves  of  the  deed  of  cession,  although  there  is  conveyed  a  com 
mon  property  to  be  held  for  the  common  benefit,  there  is  never 
theless  an  assignment  of  a  separate  use.  The  ceded  land,  I  ad 
mit,  is  to  remain  a  common  fund  for  all  the  states,  to  be  admin 
istered  by  a  common  authority,  but  the  proceeds  or  profits  were 
to  be  appropriated  to  the  states  in  severalty,  according  to  a 
certain  prescribed  rule.  I  contend  this  is  manifestly  true  from 
the  words  of  the  deed.  What  are  they  ?  "  That  all  the  lands 
within  the  territory  so  ceded  to  the  United  States,  and  not  re 
served  for  or  appropriated  to  any  of  the  before-mentioned  par- 
poses,  or  disposed  of  in  bounties  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of 
the  American  army,  shall  be  considered  a  common  fund  for  the 
use  and  benefit  of  such  of  the  United  States  as  have  become,  or 
shall  become,  members  of  the  confederation  or  federal  alliance 
of  the  said  states,  Virginia  inclusive,  according  to  their  usual  re 
spective  proportions  in  the  general  charge  and  expenditure,  and 
shall  be  faithfully  and  bona  fide  disposed  of  for  that  purpose,  and 
for  no  other  use  or  purpose  whatsoever." 

The  territory  conveyed  was  to  be  regarded  as  an  inviolable 
fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  states  as  were  admitted  or 
might  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  Virginia  inclusive,  according 
to  their  usual  respective  proportions  in  the  general  charge  and 
expenditure.  It  was  to  be  faithfully  and  bona  fide  administered 
for  that  sole  purpose,  and  for  no  other  purpose  whatever. 

Where  then  is  the  authority  for  all  those  wild,  extravagant 
and  unjust  projects,  by  which,  instead  of  administration  of  the 
ceded  territory  for  all  the  states  and  all  the  people  of  the  Union, 
it  is  to  be  granted  to  particular  states,  wasted  in  schemes  of 
graduation  and  pre-emption,  for  the  benefit  of  the  trespasser,  the 
alien  and  the  speculator  ? 

The  senator  from  New- York,  pressed  by  the  argument  as  to 
the  application  of  the  fund  to  the  separate  use  of  the  states,  de- 
ducible  from  the  phrases  in  the  deed,  "  Virginia  inclusive,"  said 
that  they  were  necessary,  because  without  them  Virginia  would 
have  been  entitled  to  no  part  of  the  ceded  lands.  No  ?  Were 
they  not  ceded  to  the  United  States,  was  she  not  one  of  those 
states,  and  did  not  the  grant  to  them  include  her?  Why  tbea; 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         413 

were  the  words  inserted  ?  Can  any  other  purpose  be  imagined 
than  that  of  securing  to  Virginia  her  separate  or  "  respective" 
proportion?  The  whole  paragraph,  cautiously  and  carefully 
composed,  clearly  demonstrates  that,  although  the  fund,  was  to 
be  common,  the  title  common,  the  administration  common,  the 
use  and  benefit  were  to  be  separate  among  the  several  states,  in 
the  defined  proportions. 

The  grant  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  states,  "according  to  their 
usual  respective  proportions  in  the  common  charge  and  expendi 
ture."  Bear  in  mind  the  date  of  the  deed  ;  it  was  in  1784 — be 
fore  the  adoption  of  the  present  constitution,  and  whilst  the 
articles  of  confederation  were  in  force.  What,  according  to 
them,  was  the  mode  of  assessing  the  quotas  of  the  different 
states  towards  the  common  charge  and  expenditure  ?  It  was 
made  upon  the  basis  of  the  value  of  all  the  surveyed  land,  and 
the  improvements,  in  each  state.  Each  state  was  assessed  ac 
cording  to  the  aggregate  value  of  surveyed  land  and  improve 
ments  within  its  limits.  After  that  was  ascertained,  the  process 
of  assessment  was  this  :  suppose  there  were  five  millions  of  dol 
lars  required  to  be  raised  for  the  use  of  the  general  government, 
and  one  million  of  that  five  were  the  proportion  of  Virginia ; 
there  would  be  an  account  stated  on  the  books  of  the  general 
government  with  the  state  of  Virginia,  in  which  she  would  be 
charged,  with  that  million.  Then  there  would  be  an  account 
kept  for  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands ;  and,  if 
these  amounted  to  five  millions  of  dollars  also,  Virginia  would  be 
credited  with  one  million,  being  her  fair  proportion ;  and  thus 
the  account  would  be  balanced.  It  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  the 
process  with  all  the  other  states ;  this  is  enough  to  show  that, 
according  to  the  original  contemplation  of  the  grant,  the  com 
mon  fund  was  for  the  separate  benefit  of  the  states ;  and  that,  if 
there  had  been  no  change  in  the  form  of  government,  each 
would  have  been  credited  with  its  share  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands  in  its  account  with  the  general  government.  Is  not 
this  indisputable  1  But  let  me  suppose  that  Virginia  or  any- 
other  state  had  said  to  the  general  government :  u  I  choose  to 
receive  my  share  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  into  my  se 
parate  treasury ;  pay  it  to  me,  and  I  will  provide  in  some  other 
mode,  more  agreeable  to  me,  for  the  payment  of  my  assessed 
quota  of  the  expenses  of  the  general  government:"  can  it  be 
doubted  that  such  a  demand  would  have  been  legitimate  and 
perfectly  compatible  with  the  deed  of  cession?  Even  under 
our  present  system,  you  will  recollect,  sir,  that,  during  the  last 
war,  any  state  was  allowed  to  assume  the  payment  of  its  share 
of  the  direct  tax,  and  raise  it,  according  to  its  own  pleasure  or 
convenience,  from  its  own  people,  instead  of  the  general  govern 
ment  collecting  it. 

From  the  period  of  the  adoption  of  the  present  constitution  of 
the  United  States,  the  mode  of  raising  revenue,  for  the  expenses 
35* 


414  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

of  the  general  government,  has  heen  changed.  Instead  of  acting 
upon  the  states,  and  through  them  upon  the  people  of  the  seve 
ral  states,  in  the  form  of  assessed  quotas  or  contributions,  the 
general  government  now  acts  directly  upon  the  people  them- 
selvs,  in  the  form  of  taxes,  duties,  or  excises.  Now,  as  the  chief 
source  of  revenue  raised  by  this  government,  is  from  foreign 
imports,  and  as  the  consumer  pays  the  duty,  it  is  entirety  im 
practicable  to  ascertain  how  much  of  the  common  charge  and 
general  expenditure  is  contributed  by  any  one  state  to  the  Union. 
By  the  deed  of  cession  a  great  and  a  sacred  trust  was  created. 
The  general  government  was  the  trustee,  and  the  states  were 
the  cestuy  que  trust.  According  to  the  trust  the  measure  of 
benefit  accruing  to  each  state  from  the  ceded  lands  was  to  be 
the  measure  of  burden  which  it  bore  in  the  general  charge  and 
expenditure.  But,  by  the  substitution  of  a  new  rule  of  raising 
revenue  to  that  which  was  in  contemplation  at  the  time  of  the 
execution  of  the  deed  of  cession,  it  has  become  impossible  to  ad 
just  the  exact  proportion  of  burden  and  benefit  with  each  other. 
The  measure  of  burden  is  lost,  although  the  subject  remains 
which  was  to  be  apportioned  according  to  that  measure.  Who 
can  now  ascertain  whether  any  one  of  the  states  has  received,  or  is 
receiving,  a  benefit  from  the  ceded  lands  proportionate  to  its 
burden  in  the  general  government?  Who  can  know  that  we 
are  not  daily  violating  the  rule  of  apportionment  prescribed  by 
the  deed  of  cession  ?  Toms  it  appears  clear  that,  either  from 
the  epoch  of  the  establishment  of  the  present  constitution,  or 
certainly  from  that  of  the  payment  of  the  revolutionary  debt,  the 
proceeds  of  the  public  lands  being  no  longer  applied  by  the 
general  government  according  to  that  rule,  they  ought  to  have 
been  transferred  to  the  states  upon  some  equitable  principle  of 
division,  conforming  as  near  as  possible  to  the  spirit  of  the  ces 
sions.  The  trustee  not  being  able,  by  the  change  of  govern 
ment,  to  execute  the  trust  agreeably  to  the  terms  of  the  trust, 
ought  to  have  done,  and  ought  yet  to  do,  that  which  a  chancel 
lor  would  decree  if  he  had  jurisdiction  of  the  case — make  a  di 
vision  of  the  proceeds  among  the  states  upon  some  rule  approx 
imating  as  near  as  practicable  to  that  of  the  trust.  And  what 
rule  can  so  well  fulfil  this  condition  as  that  which  was  introduced 
in  the  bill  which  I  presented  to  the  Senate,  and  which  is  con 
tained  in  my  colleague's  amendment?  That  rule  is  founded  on 
federal  numbers,  which  are  made  up  of  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  United  States  other  than  the  slaves,  and  three-fifths  of  them. 
The  South,  surely,  should  be  the  last  section  to  object  to  a  dis 
tribution  founded  on  that  rule.  And  yet,  if  I  rightly  understood 
One  of  the  dark  allusions  of  the  senator  from  South  Carolina, 
(Mr.  Calhoun,)  he  has  attempted  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  the 
north  on  that  very  ground.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  can  conceive 
of  no  rule  more  equitable  than  that  co.mpound  one,  and,  I  think, 
that  will  be  the  judgment  of  all  parts  of  the  country,  the  objec 
tion  of  that  senator  Notwithstanding.  Although  slaves  are,  in  a 


PROCEEDS  OP  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         415 

limited  proportion,  one  of  the  elements  that-  enter  into  the  rule, 
it  will  be  recollected  that  they  are  both  consumers  and  the  ob 
jects  of  taxation. 

It  has  been  argued  that  since  the  fund  was  to  be  a  common 
one,  and  its  administration  was  to  be  by  the  general  govern 
ment,  the  fund  ought  to  be  used  also  by  that  government  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  states  separately.  But  that  is  a  non  sequitur. 
It  may  be  a  common  fund,  a  common  title,  and  a  common  or 
single  administration ;  but  is  there  any  thing,  in  all  that,  incom 
patible  with  a  periodical  distribution  of  the  profits  of  the  fund 
among  the  parties  for  whose  benefit  the  trust  was  created? 
What  is  the  ordinary  case  of  tenants  in  common  ?  There  the 
estate  is  common,  the  title  is  common,  the  defence  against  all  at 
tacks  is  common ;  but  the  profits  of  the  estate  go  to  the  separate 
use  of,  and  are  enjoyed  by,  each  tenant.  Does  it  therefore  cease 
to  be  an  estate  in  common  ? 

Again.  There  is  another  view.  It  has  been  argued,  from  the 
fact  that  the  ceded  lands  in  the  hands  of  the  trustee  were  for  the 
common  benefit,  that  that  object  could  be  no  otherwise  accom 
plished  than  to  use  them  in  the  disbursements  of  the  general 
government ;  that  the  general  government  only  must  expend 
them.  Now,  I  do  not  admit  that.  In  point  of  fact,  the  general 
government  would  continue  to  collect  and  receive  the  fund,  and 
as  a  trustee  would  pay  over  to  each  state  its  distributive  share. 

The  public  domain  would  still  remain  in  common.  Then,  as 
to  the  expenditure,  there  may  be  different  modes  of  expenditure. 
One  is,  for  the  general  government  itself  to  disperse  it,  in  pay 
ments  to  the  civil  list,  the  army,  the  navy,  &c.  Another  is,  by 
distributing  it  among  the  states,  to  constitute  them  so  many 
agencies  through  which  the  expenditure  is  effected.  If  the  gen 
eral  government  and  the  state  governments  were  in  two  different 
countries;  if  they  had  entirely  distinct  and  distant  theatres  of 
action,  and  operated  upon  different  races  of  men,  it  would  be 
another  case ;  but  here  the  two  systems  of  government,  although 
for  different  purposes,  are  among  the  same  people,  and  the  con 
stituency  of  both  of  them  is  the  same.  The  expenditure,  whether 
made  by  the  one  government  directly,  or  through  the  state  govern 
ments  as  agencies,  is  all  for  the  happiness  and  prosperity,  the 
honor  and  the  glory,  of  one  and  the  same  people. 

The  subject  is  susceptible  of  other  illustrations,  of  which  I  will 
add  one  or  two.  Here  is  a  fountain  of  water  held  in  common 
by  several  neighbors,  living  around  it.  It  is  a  perennial  foun 
tain — deep,  pure,  copious,  and  salubrious.  Does  it  cease  to  be 
common  because  some  equal  division  is  made  by  which  the 
members  of  each  adjacent  family  dip  their  vessels  into  it  and 
take  out  as  much  as  they  want?  A  tract  of  land  is  held  in  com 
mon  by  the  inhabitants  of  a  neighboring  village.  Does  it  cease 
to  be  a  common  property  because  each  villager  uses  it  for  his 
particular  beasts?  A  river  is  the  common  highroad  of  naviga 
tion  to  conterminous  powers  or  states.  Does  it  cease  to  be  com- 


416  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

mon  because  on  its  bosom  are  borne  vessels  bearing  the  stripes 
and  the  stars  or  the  British  cross  ?  These,  and  other  examples 
which  might  be  given,  prove  that  the  argument,  on  which  so 
much  reliance  has  been  placed,  is  not  well  founded,  that,  be 
cause  the  public  domain  is  held  for  the  common  benefit  of  the 
states,  there  can  be  no  other  just  application  of  its  proceeds  than 
through  the  direct  expenditures  of  the  general  government. 

I  might  have  avoided  most  of  this  consumption  of  time  by  fol 
lowing  the  bad  example  of  quoting  from  my  own  productions ; 
and  I  ask  the  Senate  to  excuse  one  or  two  citiations  from  the 
report  I  made  in  1834,  in  answer  to  the  veto  message  of  Presi 
dent  Jackson,  as  they  present  a  condensed  view  of  the  argument 
which  I  have  been  urging.  Speaking  of  the  cession  from  Vir 
ginia  the  report  says : 

"  This  deed  created  a  trust  in  the  United  States  which  they 
are  not  at  liberty  to  violate.  But  the  deed  does  not  require  that 
the  fund  should  be  disbursed  in  the  payment  of  the  expenses  of 
the  general  government  It  makes  no  such  provision  in  express 
terms,  nor  is  such  a  duty  on  the  part  of  the  trustee  fairly  dedu- 
cible  from  the  language  of  the  deed.  On  the  contrary,  the 
language  of  the  deed  seems  to  contemplate  a  separate  use  and 
enjoyment  of  the  fund  by  the  states  individually,  rather  than  a 
preservation  of  it  for  common  expenditure.  The  fund  itself  is 
to  be  a  common  fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of  the 
United  States  as  have  become  or  shall  become  members  of  the 
confederation  or  federal  alliance,  Virginia  inclusive.  The  grant 
is  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  confederation,  but  for  that  of  the  se 
veral  states  which  compose  the  confederation.  The  fund  is  to 
be  under  the  management  of  the  confederation  collectively,  and 
is  so  far  a  common  fund ;  but  it  is  to  be  managed  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  the  states  individually,  and  is  so  far  a  separate  fund 
under  a  joint  management.  Whilst  there  was  a  heavy  debt  ex* 
isting,  created  by  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  by  a  subse 
quent  war,  there  was  a  fitness  in  applying  the  proceeds  of  a  com 
mon  fund  to  the  discharge  of  a  common  debt,  which  reconciled 
all ;  but  that  debt  being  now  discharged,  and  the  general  gov 
ernment  no  longer  standing  in  need  of  the  fund,  there  is  evident 
Propriety  in  a  division  of  it  among  those  for  whose  use  and 
enefit  it  was  originally  designed,  and  whose  wants  require  it. 
And  the  committee  cannot  conceive  how  this  appropriation  of  it, 
upon  principles  of  equality  and  justice  among  the  several  states, 
can  be  regarded  as  contrary  to  either  the  letter  or  spirit  of  the 
deed. 

The  senator  from  New- York,  assuming  that  the  whole  debt 
of  the  Revolution  has  not  yet  been  paid  by  the  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands,  insists  that  we  should  continue  to  retain  the  avails 
of  them  until  a  reimbursement  shall  have  been  effected  of  all 
that  has  been  applied  to  that  object.  But  the  public  lands  were 
never  set  apart  or  relied  upon  as  the  exclusive  resource  for  the 
payment  of  the  revolutionary  debt.  To  give  confidence  to  pub- 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         417 

lie  creditors,  and  credit  to  the  government,  they  were  pledged  to 
that  object,  along  with  other  means  applicable  to  its  discharge. 
The  debt  is  paid,  and  the  pledge  of  the  public  lands  has  per 
formed  its  office.  And  who  paid  what  the  lands  did  not?  Was 
it  not  the  people  of  the  United  States  ? — those  very  people  to 
whose  use,  under  the  guardianship  of  their  states,  it  is  now  pro 
posed  to  dedicate  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands?  If  the 
money  had  been  paid  by  a  foreign  government,  the  proceeds 
of  the  public  lands,  in  honor  and  good  faith,  would  have  been 
bound  to  reimburse  it.  But  our  revolutionary  debt,  if  not  wholly 
paid  by  the  public  lands,  was  otherwise  paid  out  of  the  pockets 
of  the  people  who  own  the  lands;  and  if  money  has  been  drawn 
from  their  pockets  for  a  purpose  to  which  these  lands  were  des 
tined,  it  creates  an  additional  obligation  upon  Congress  to  re 
place  the  amount  so  abstracted  by  distributing  the  proceeds 
among  the  states  for  the  benefit  and  the  reimbursement  of  the 
people. 

But  the  senator  from  New- York  has  exhibited  a  most  formid 
able  account  against  the  public  domain,  tending  to  show,  if  it  be 
correct,  that  what  has  been  heretofore  regarded,  at  home  and 
abroad  as  a  source  of  great  .national  wealth,  has  been  a  constant 
charge  upon  the  treasury,  and  a  great  loss  to  the  country.  The 
credit  side,  according  to  his  statement,  was,  I  believe,  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  millions,  but  the  debit  side  was  much  larger. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  it  is  easy  to  state  an 
account  presenting  a  balance  on  the  one  side  or  the  other,  as 
may  suit  the  taste  or  views  of  the  person  making  it  up.  This 
may  be  done  by  making  charges  that  have  no  foundation,  or 
omitting  credits  that  ought  to  be  allowed,  or  by  both.  The  most 
certain  operation  is  the  latter,  and  the  senator,  who  is  a  pretty 
thorough-going  gentleman,  has  adopted  it. 

The  first  item  that  I  shall  notice,  with  which,  I  think,  he  im 
properly  debits  the  public  lands,  is  a  charge  of  eighty  odd  mil 
lions  of  dollars  for  the  expense  of  conducting  our  Indian  rela 
tions.  Now,  if  this  single  item  can  be  satisfactorily  expunged, 
no  more  need  be  done  to  turn  a  large  balance  in  favor  of  the 
public  lands.  I  ask,  then,  with  what  color  of  propriety  can  the 
public  lands  be  charged  with  the  entire  expense  incident  to  our 
Indian  relations  ?  If  the  government  did  not  own  an  acre  of 
public  lands,  this  expense  would  have  been  incurred.  The  ab 
origines  are  here ;  our  fathers  found  them  in  possession  of  this 
land,  these  woods,  and  these  waters.  The  preservation  of  peace 
with  them,  the  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  humanity  towards  them, 
their  civilization,  education,  conversion  to  Christianity,  friendly 
and  commercial  intercourse — these  are  the  causes  of  the  chief 
expenditure  on  their  account,  and  they  are  quite  distinct  from  the 
fact  of  our  possessing  the  public  domain.  When  every  acre  of 
that  domain  has  gone  from  you,  the  Indian  tribes,  if  not  in  the 
mean  time  extinct,  may  yet  remain,  imploring  you,  for  charity's 
sake,  to  assist  them,  and  to  share  with  them  those  blessings,  of 


418  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE 

which,  by  the  weakness  of  their  nature,  or  the  cruelty  of  your 
policy,  they  have  been  stripped.  Why,  especially,  should  the 
public  lands  be  chargeable  with  that  large  portion  of  the  eighty 
odd  millions  of  dollars,  arising  from  the  removal  of  the  Indiani 
from  the  east  to  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  ?  They  pro 
tested  against  it.  They  entreated  you  to  allow  them  to  remain 
at  the  homes  and  by  the  side  of  the  graves  of  their  ancestors  : 
but  your  stern  and  rigorous  policy  would  not  allow  you  to  listen 
to  their  supplications.  The  public  domain,  instead  of  being 
justly  chargeable  with  the  expense  of  their  removal,  is  entitlec 
to  a  large  credit  for  the  vast  territorial  districts  beyond  the 
Mississippi  which  it  furnished,  for  the  settlement  of  the  emigran 
Indians. 

I  felt  that  I  have  not  strength  to  go  through  all  the  items  of 
the  senator's  account,  nor  need  I.  The  deduction  of  this  einglt 
item  will  leave  a  nett  balance  in  favor  of  the  public  lands  of  be 
tween  sixty  and  seventy  millions  of  dollars. 

What,  after  all,  is  the  senator's  mode  of  stating  the  account 
with  the  public  lands  ?  Has  he  taken  any  other  than  a  mere 
counting  house  view  of  them?  Has  he  exhibited  any  thing 
more  than  any  sub-accountant  or  clerk  might  make  out  in  any 
of  the  departments,  as  probably  it  was  prepared,  cut  and  dry,  to 
the  senator's  hands  ?  Are  there  no  higher  or  more  statesman 
like  views  to  be  taken  of  the  public  lands,  and  of  the  acquisitions 
of  Louisiana  and  Florida,  than  the  account  of  dollars  and  cents 
which  the  senator  has  presented  ?  I  have  said  that  the  senator 
by  the  double  process  of  erroneous  insertion  and  unjust  suppres 
sion  of  items,  has  shaped  an  account  to  suit  his  argument,  which 
presents  any  thing  but  a  full  and  fair  statement  of  the  case. 
And  is  it  not  so  ?  Louisiana  cost  fifteen  millions  of  dollars. 
And,  if  you  had  the  power  of  selling,  how  many  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  would  you  now  ask  for  the  states  of  Louisiana,  Mis 
souri,  and  Arkansas — people,  land,  and  all  1  Is  the  sovereignty 
which  you  acquired  of  the  two  provinces  of  Louisiana  and  Flori  -• 
da  nothing?  Are  the  public  buildings  and  works,  the  fortifica 
tions,  cannon,  and  other  arms,  independent  of  the  public  lands, 
nothing  ?  Is  the  navigation  of  the  great  father  of  waters,  which 
you  secured  from  the  head  to  the  mouth,  on  both  sides  of  the 
river,  by  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  to  the  total  exclusion  of  all 
foreign  powers,  not  worthy  of  being  taken  into  the  senator'* 
estimate  of  the  advantages  of  the  acquisition  ?  Who,  at  all  ac 
quainted  with  the  history  and  geography  of  this  continent,  does 
not  know  that  the  Mississippi  could  not  have  remained  in  the 
hands,  and  its  navigation  continued  subject  to  the  control,  of  a 
foreign  power  without  imminent  danger  to  the  stability  of  the 
Union  ?  Is  the  cost  of  the  public  domain  undeserving  of  any 
credit  on  account  of  the  vast  sums  which,  during  the  greater 
part  of  this  century,  you  have  been  receiving  into  the  public 
treasury  from  the  custom-houses  of  New-Orleans  and  Mobile  ? 
Or  on  account  of  the  augmentation  of  the  revenue  of  the  gov- 


PROCEEDS  OP  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         410 

crnment,  from  the  consumption  of  dutiable  articles  by  the  popu 
lation  within  the  boundaries  of  the  two  former  provinces  ?  The 
national  benefits  and  advantages  accruing  from  their  possession 
have  been  so  various  and  immense  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
make  any  mere  pecuniary  estimate  of  them.  In  any  aspect  of 
the  subject,  the  senator's  petty  items  of  Indian  annuities  must 
appear  contemptible  in  comparison  with  these  splendid  national 
acquisitions. 

But  the  public  lands  are  redeemed.  They  have  long  been  re 
deemed.  President  Jackson  announced,  more  than  eight  years 
ago,  an  incontestible  truth  when  he  stated  that  they  might  be 
considered  as  relieved  from  the  pledge  which  had  been  made  of 
them,  the  object  having  been  accomplished  for  which  they  were 
ceded,  and  that  it  was  in  the  discretion  of  Congress  to  dispose 
of  them  in  such  way  as  best  to  conduce  to  the  quiet,  harmony, 
and  general  interest  of  the  American  people.  That  which  Con 
gress  has  the  power  to  do,  by  an  express  grant  of  authority  in 
the  constitution,  it  is,  in  my  humble  opinion,  imperatively  bound 
to  do  by  the  terms  of  the  deed  of  cession.  Distribution,  and  only 
distribution,  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  among  the 
states,  upon  the  principles  proposed,  will  conform  to  the  spirit, 
and  execute  the  trust  created  in  the  deeds  of  cession.  Each 
state,  upon  grounds  of  strict  justice,  as  well  as  equity,  has  a 
right  to  demand  its  distributive  share  of  those  proceeds.  It  is 
a  debt  which  this  government  owes  to  every  state — a  debt,  pay 
ment  of  which  might  be  enforced  by  process  of  law  if  there  were 
any  forum  before  which  the  United  States  could  be  brought. 

And  are  there  not,  sir,  existing  at  this  moment  the  most  urgent 
and  powerful  motives  for  this  dispensation  of  justice  to  the  states 
at  the  hands  of  the  general  government?  A  stranger  listening 
to  the  argument  of  the  senator  from  New- York,  would  conclude 
that  we  were  not  one  united  people,  but  that  there  were  two  se 
parate  and  distinct  nations — one  acted  upon  by  the  general  gov 
ernment,  and  the  other  by  the  state  governments.  But  is  that  a 
fair  representation  of  the  case  ?  Are  we  not  one  and  the  same 
people,  acted  upon,  it  is  true,  by  two  systems  of  government, 
two  sets  of  public  agents — the  one  established  for  general  and 
the  other  for  local  purposes  ?  The  constituency  is  identical  and 
the  same,  although  it  is  doubly  governed.  It  is  the  bounden 
duty  of  those  who  are  charged  with  the  administration  of  each 
system  so  to  administer  it  as  to  do  as  much  good  and  as  little 
harm  as  possible,  within  the  scope  of  their  respective  powers. 
They  should  also  each  take  into  view  the  defects  in  the  powers 
or  defects  in  the  administration  of  the  powers  of  the  other,  and 
endeavor  to  supply  them  as  far  as  its  legitimate  authority  ex 
tends,  and  the  wants  or  necessities  of  the  people  require.  For, 
if  distress,  adversity  and  ruin  come  upon  our  constituents  from, 
any  quarter,  should  they  not  have  our  active  exertions  to  relieve 
them  as  well  as  all  our  sympathies  and  our  deepest  regrets  ?  It 
would  be  but  a  poor  consolation  to  the  general  government,  if 


420  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

euch  were  the  fact,  that  this  unhappy  state  of  things  was  pro 
duced  by  the  measures  and  operation  of  the  state  governments, 
and  not  by  its  ovvri.  And,  if  the  general  government,  by  a  sea 
sonable  and  legitimate  exercise  of  its  authority,  could  relieve  the 
people,  and  would  not  relieve  them,  the  reproaches  due  to  it 
would  be  quite  as  great  as  if  that  government  itself,  and  not  the 
state  governments,  had  brought  these  distresses  upon  the  people. 

The  powers  of  taxation  possessed  by  the  general  government 
are  unlimited.  The  most  fruitful  and  the  least  burdensome 
modes  of  taxation  are  confided  to  this  government  exclusive  of 
the  states.  The  power  of  laying  duties  on  foreign  imports  is 
entirely  monopolized  by  the  federal  government.  The  states 
have  only  the  power  of  direct  or  internal  taxation.  They 
have  none  to  impose  duties  on  imports,  not  even  luxuries ;  we 
have.  And  what  is  their  condition  at  this  moment?  Some  of 
them  are  greatly  in  debt,  at  a  loss  even  to  raise  means  to  pay 
the  interest  upon  their  bonds.  These  debts  were  contracted 
under  the  joint  encouragement  of  the  recommendation  of  this 
government,  and  prosperous  times,  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
laudable  object  of  internal  improvements.  They  may  have 
pushed,  in  some  instances,  their  schemes  too  far ;  but  it  was  in 
a  good  cause,  arid  it  is  easy  to  make  reproaches  when  things 
turn  out  ill. 

And  here  let  me  say  that,  looking  to  the  patriotic  object  of 
these  state  debts,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were 
contracted,  I  saw  with  astonished  and  indignant  feelings  a  reso 
lution  submitted  to  the  Senate,  at  the  last  session,  declaring  that 
the  general  government  would  not  assume  the  payment  of  them, 
A  more  wicked,  malignant,  Danton-like  proposition  was  never 
offered  to  the  consideration  of  any  deliberative  assembly.  It 
was  a  negative  proposition,  not  a  negative  of  any  affirmative 
resolution  presented  to  the  Senate;  for  no  such  affirmative 
resolution  was  offered  by  any  one,  nor  do  I  believe  was  ever 
thought  or  dreamed  of  by  any  one.  When,  where,  by  whom, 
was  the  extravagant  idea  ever  entertained  of  an  assumption  of 
the  state  debts  by  the  general  government  ?  There  was  not  a 
solitary  voice  raised  in  favor  of  such  a  measure  in  this  Senate. 
Would  it  not  have  been  time  enough  to  have  denounced  as 
sumption  when  it  was  seriously  proposed  ?  Yet,  at  a  moment 
when  the  states  were  greatly  embarrassed,  when  their  credit 
was  sinking,  at  this  critical  moment,  was  a  measure  brought 
forward,  unnecessarily,  wantonly  and  gratuitously,  made  the 
subject  of  an  elaborate  report,  and  exciting  a  protracted  debate, 
the  inevitable  effect  of  all  which  must  have  been  to  create  abroad 
distrust  in  the  ability  and  good  faith  of  the  debtor  states.  Can 
it  be  doubted  that  a  serious  injury  was  inflicted  upon  them  by 
this  unprecedented  proceeding  ?  Nothing  is  more  delicate  than 
credit  or  character.  Their  credit  cannot  fail  to  have  suffered  in 
the  only  place  where  capital  could  be  obtained,  and  where  at 
that  very  time  some  of  the  agents  of  the  states  were  negotiating 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         421 

with  foreign  bankers.  About  that  period  one  of  the  Senators 
of  this  body  had  in  person  gone  abroad  for  the  purpose  of  ob 
taining  advances  of  money  on  Illinois  stock. 

The  Senator  from  New-York  said  that  the  European  capital 
ists  had  fixed  the  value  of  the  state  bonds  of  this  country  at  fifty 
per  cent.;  and  therefore  it  was  a  matter  of  no  consequence  what 
might  be  said  about  the  credit  of  the  states  here.  But  the  Sena 
tor  is  mistaken,  or  I  have  been  entirely  misinformed.  I  under 
stand  that  some  bankers  have  limited  their  advances  upon  the 
amount  of  state  bonds,  prior  to  their  actual  sale,  to  fifty  per 
cent,  in  like  manner  as  commission  merchants  will  advance  on 
the  goods  consigned  to  them,  prior  to  their  sale.  But  in  such  an 
operation  it  is  manifestly  for  the  interest  of  the  states,  as  well  as 
the  bankers,  that  the  bonds  should  command  in  the  market  as 
much  as  possible  above  the  fifty  per  cent. ;  and  any  proceeding 
which  impairs  the  value  of  the  bonds  must  be  injurious  to  both. 
In  any  event,  the  loss  would  fall  upon  the  states;  and  that  this 
loss  was  aggravated  by  what  occurred  here,  on  the  resolution  to 
which  I  have  referred,  no  one,  at  all  acquainted  with  the  sensi 
tiveness  of  credit  and  of  capitalists,  can  hesitate  to  believe.  My 
friends  and  I  made  the  most  strenuous  opposition  to  the  resolu 
tion,  but  it  was  ail  unavailing,  and  a  majority  of  the  Senate 
adopted  the  report  of  the  committee  to  which  the  resolution  had 
been  referred.  We  urged  the  impolicy  and  injustice  of  the  pro 
ceeding;  that  no  man  in  his  senses  would  ever  propose  the  as 
sumption  of  the  state  debts ;  that  no  such  proposal  had,  in  fact, 
been  made;  that  the  debts  of  the  states  were  unequal  in  amount, 
contracted  by  states  of  unequal  population,  and  that  some  states 
were  not  in  debt  at  all.  How  then  was  it  possible  to  think  of  a 
general  assumption  of  state  debts  ?  Who  could  conceive  of  such 
a  proposal  ?  But  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  our  paying 
their  debts  for  them,  and  paying  our  own  debts  to  them,  in  con 
formity  with  the  trusts  arising  out  of  the  public  domain,  which 
the  general  government  is  bound  to  execute. 

Language  has  been  held  in  this  chamber  which  would  lead 
any  one  who  heard  it  to  believe  that  some  gentlemen  would  take 
delight  in  seeing  states  dishonored  and  unable  to  pay  their 
bonds.  If  such  a  feeling  does  really  exist,  I  trust  it  will  find  no 
sympathy  with  the  people  of  this  country,  as  it  can  have  none 
in  the  breast  of  any  honest  man.  When  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster)  the  other  day  uttered,  in  such 
thrilling  language,  the  sentiment  that  honor  and  probity  bound 
the  states  to  the  faithful  payment  of  all  their  debts,  and  that  they 
would  do  it,  I  felt  my  bosom  swelling  with  patriotic  pride — pride, 
on  account  of  the  just  and  manly  sentiment  itself;  and  pride,  on 
account  of  the  beautiful  and  eloquent  language  in  which  that 
noble  sentiment  was  clothed.  Dishonor  American  credit !  Dis 
honor  the  American  name !  Dishonor  the  whole  country !  Why, 
sir,  what  is  national  character,  national  credit,  national  honor, 
36 


422  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

national  glory,  but  the  aggregate  of  the  character,  the  credit, 
the  honor,  the  glory,  of  the  parts  of  the  nation  ?  Can  the  parts 
be  dishonored,  and  the  whole  remain  unsullied?  Or  can  the 
whole  be  blemished,  and  the  parts  stand  pure  and  untainted? 
Can  a  younger  sister  be  disgraced,  without  bringing  blushes  and 
shame  upon  the  whole  family?  Can  our  young  sister  Illinois  (I 
mention  her  only  for  illustration,  but  with  all  feelings  and  senti 
ments  of  fraternal  regard,)  can  she  degrade  her  character  as  a 
state,  without  bringing  reproach  and  obloquy  upon  all  of  us? 
What  has  made  England — our  country's  glorious  parent — (al 
though  she  has  taught  us  the  duty  of  eternal  watchfulness,  to 
repel  aggression,  and  maintain  our  rights  against  even  her) — 
what  has  made  England  the  wonder  of  the  world?  What  has 
raised  her  to  such  pre-eminence  in  wealth,  power,  empire  and 
greatness,  at  once  the  awe  and  the  admiration  of  nations?  Un 
doubtedly,  among  the  prominent  causes,  have  been  the  preserva 
tion  of  her  credit,  the  maintenance  of  her  honor,  and  the  scru 
pulous  fidelity  with  which  she  has  fulfilled  her  pecuniary  engage 
ments,  foreign  as  well  as  domestic.  An  opposite  example  of  a 
disregard  of  national  faith  and  character  presents  itself  in  the 
pages  of  ancient  history.  Every  schoolboy  is  familiar  with  the 
phrase  "Punic  faith,"  which  a.t  Rome  became  a  by-word  and  a 
reproach  against  Carthage,  in  consequence  of  her  notorious  vio 
lations  of  her  public  engagements.  The  stigma  has  been  trans 
mitted  down  to  the  present  time,  and  will  remain  forever  unef- 
faced.  Who  would  not  lament  that  a  similar  stigma  should  be 
affixed  to  any  member  of  our  confederacy?  If  there  be  anyone 
so  thoroughly  imbued  with  party  spirit,  so  destitute  of  honor  and 
morality,  so  regardless  of  just  "feelings  of  national  dignity  and 
character,  as  to  desire  to  see  any  of  the  states  of  this -glorious 
Union  dishonored,  by  violating  their  engagements  to  foreigners, 
and  refusing  to  pay  their  just  debts,  I  repel  and  repudiate  him  and 
his  sentiments  as  unworthy  of  the  American  name,  as  sentiments 
dishonest  in  themselves,  and  neither  entertained  nor  approved 
by  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Let  us  not  be  misunderstood,  or  our  feelings  and  opinions  be 
perverted.  What  is  it  that  we  ask?  Tluit  this  government, 
shall  assume  the  debts  of  the  states?  Oh  !  no,  no.  The  debts 
of  Pennsylvania,  for  example?  (who  is.  I  bencve.  the  most  in 
debted  of  all  the  states.)  No,  no;  far  from  it.  But  seeing  that 
this  government  has  the  power,  and,  as  I  think,  is  under  a~duty, 
to  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  and  that  it  has  the 
power,  which  the  states  have  not,  to  lay  duties  on  foreign  luxu 
ries,  we  propose  to  make  that  distribution,  pay  our  debt  to  the 
states,  and  save  the  states,  to  that  extent  at  least,  from  the  ne 
cessity  of  resorting  to  direct  taxation,  the  most  onerous  of  all 
modes  of  levying  money  upon  the  people.  We  propose  to  sup 
ply  the  deficiency  produced  from  the  withdrawal  of  the  land  fund 
by  duties  on  luxuries,  which  the  wealthy  only  will  pay,  and  so 
far  save  the  states  from  the  necessity  of  burdening  the  poor. 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         423 

We  propose  that,  by  a  just  exercise  of  incontestable  powers 
possessed  by  this  government,  we  shall  go  to  the  succor  of  all 
the  states,  and,  by  a  fair  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  pub 
lic  lands  among  them,  avert,  as  far  as  that  may  avert,  the  ruin 
and  dishonor  with  which  some  of  them  are  menaced.  We  pro 
pose,  in  short,  such  an  administration  of  the  powers  of  this  gov 
ernment,  as  shall  protect  and  relieve  our  common  constituents 
from  the  embarrassments  to  which  they  may  be  exposed  from 
the  defects  in  the  powers  or  in  the  administration  of  the  state 
governments. 

Let  us  look  a  little  more  minutely  at  consequences.  The  dis 
tributive  share  of  the  state  of  Illinois  in  the  land  proceeds  would 
be,  according  to  the  present  receipts  from  the  public  lands, 
about  $109,000.  We  make  distribution,  arid  she  receives  it. 
To  that  extent  it  would  then  relieve  her  from  direct  taxation  to 
meet  the  debt  which  she  has  contracted,  or  it  would  form  the 
basis  of  new  loans  to  an  amount  equal  to  about  two  millions. 
We  refuse  to  make  distribution.  She  must  levy  the  hundred 
thousand  dollars  upon  her  population  in  the  form  of  direct  taxa 
tion.  And,  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  her  chief  source  of  revenue 
is  a  land  tax,  the  most  burdensome  of  all  taxes.  If  I  am  misin 
formed,  the  Senators  from  Illinois  can  correct  me. 

[Here  Messrs.  Robinson  and  Young  explained,  stating  that 
there  was  an  additional  source  in  a  tax  on  the  stock  in  the  state 
bank.] 

Still  the  land  tax  is,  as  I  had  understood,  the  principal  source 
of  the  revenue  of  .Illinois. 

We  make  distribution,  and,  if  necessary,  we  supply  the  defi 
ciency  which  it  produces  by  an  imposition  of  duties  on  luxuries, 
which  Illinois  cannot  tax.  We  refuse  it,  and,  having  no  power 
herself  to  lay  a  duty  on  any  foreign  imports,  she  is  compelled  to 
resort  to  the  most  inconvenient  and  oppressive  of  all  the  modes 
of  taxation.  Every  vote,  therefore,  which  is  given  against  dis 
tribution,  is  a  vote,  in  effect,  given  to  lay  a  land  tax  on  the  people 
of  Illinois.  Worse  than  that — it  is  a  vote,  in  effect,  refusing  to 
tax  the  luxuries  of  the  rich,  and  rendering  inevitable  the  taxa 
tion  of  the  poor — that  poor  in  whose  behalf  we  hear,  from  the 
other  side  of  the  chamber,  professions  of  such  deep  sympathy, 
interest  and  devotion!  In  what  attitude  do  gentlemen  place 
themselves  who  oppose  this  measure — gentlemen  who  taunt  us 
as  the  aristocracy,  as  the  friends  of  the  banks,  &c. — gentlemen 
who  claim  to  be  the  peculiar  guardians  of  the  democracy  ?  How 
do  they  treat  the  poor?  We  have  seen,  at  former  sessions,  a 
measure  warmly  espoused,  and  finally  carried  by  them,  which 
they  represented  would  reduce  the  wages  of  labor.  At,  this  ses 
sion,  a  tax,  which  would  be  borne  exclusively  by  the  rich,  en 
counters  their  opposition.  And  now  we  have  proposed  another 
mode  of  benefiting  the  poor,  by  distribution  of  the  land  proceeds, 
to  prevent  their  being  borne  down  and  oppressed  by  direct  taxa 
tion  5  and  this,  too,  is  opposed  from  the  same  quarter !  These 


424  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

gentlemen  will  not  consent  to  lay  a  tax  on  the  luxuries  of  the 
affluent,  and,  by  their  votes,  insist  upon  leaving  the  states  under 
the  necessity  or  imposing  direct  taxes  on  the  farmer,  the  labor 
ing  man,  the  poor,  and  all  the  while  set  up  to  be  the  exclusive 
friends  of  the  poor !  [A  general  laugh.]  Really,  sir,  the  best 
friends  appear  to  be  the  worst  enemies  of  the  poor,  and  their 
greatest  enemies  their  best  friends. 

The  gentlemen  opposed  to  us  have  frightened  themselves,  and 
have  sought  to  alarm  others,  by  imaginary  dangers  to  spring 
from  this  measure  of  distribution.  Corruption,  it  seems,  is  to  be 
the  order  of  the  day !  If  I  did  not  misunderstand  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina,  he  apprised  us  of  the  precise  sum — one 
million  of  dollars — which  was  adequate  to  the  corruption  of  his 
own  state.  He  knows  best  about  that ;  but  I  should  be  sorry  to 
think  that  fifty  millions  of  dollars  could  corrupt  my  state.  What 
may  be  the  condition  of  South  Carolina  at  this  time  I  know  not ; 
there  is  so  much  fog  enveloping  the  dominant  party,  that  it  is  dif 
ficult  to  discern  her  present  latitude  and  longitude.  What  she 
was  in  her  better  days — in  the  days  of  her  Rutledges,  Pinckneys, 
Sumpters,  Lowndeses,  Cheveses — we  all  well  know,  and  I  will 
not  inflict  pain  on  the  Senator  by  dwelling  on  it.  It  is  not  for 
me  to  vindicate  her  from  a  charge  so  degrading  and  humiliating. 
She  has  another  Senator  here,  far  more  able  and  eloquent  than 
I  am  to  defend  her.  Certainly  I  do  not  believe,  and  should  be 
most  unwilling  to  think,  that  her  Senator  had  made  a  correct 
estimate  of  her  moral  power. 

It  has  been  indeed  said  that  our  whole  country  is  corrupt ;  that 
the  results  of  recent  elections  were  brought  about  by  fraudulent 
means ;  and  that  a  foreign  influence  has  produced  the  great  po 
litical  revolution  which  has  just  taken  place.  I  pronounce  that 
charge  a  gross,  atrocious,  treasonable  libel  on  the  people  of  this 
country,  on  the  institutions  of  this  country,  and  on  liberty  itself. 
I  do  not  attribute  this  calumny  to  any  member  of  this  body. 
I  hope  there  is  none  who  would  give  it  the  slightest  counte 
nance.  But  I  do  charge  it  upon  some  of  the  newspapers  in 
the  support  of  the  other  party.  And  it  is  remarkable  that  the 
very  press  which  originates  and  propagates  this  foul  calumny 
of  foreign  influence  has  indicated  the  right  of  unnaturalized 
foreigners  to  mingle,  at  the  polls,  in  our  elections;  and  main 
tained  the  expediency  of  their  owning  portions  of  the  soil  of 
our  country,  before  they  have  renounced  their  allegiance  to  for 
eign  sovereigns. 

I  will  not  consume  the  time  of  the  Senate  in  dwelling  long  up 
on  the  idle  and  ridiculous  story  about  the  correspondence  between 
the  London  bankers  and  some  Missouri  bankers — a  correspon 
dence  which  was  kept  safely  until  after  the  Presidential  election, 
in  the  custody  of  the  directors  of  what  is  vaunted  as  a  genuine 
Locofoco  bank  in  that  state,  when  it  was  dragged  out  by  a  reso 
lution  of  the  Legislature,  authorising  the  sending  for  persons  and 


PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         425 

papers.  It  was  then  blazed  forth  as  conclusive  and  damning 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  foreign  influence  in  our  President 
tial  election.  And  what  did  it  all  amount  to  ?  These  British 
bankers  are  really  strange  fellows.  They  are  foolish  enough  to 
look  to  the  safety  of  their  money  advanced  to  foreigners  !  If  they 
see  a  man  going  to  ruin,  they  will  not  lend  him ;  and  if  they  see 
a  nation  pursuing  the  same  road,  they  are  so  unreasonable  as  to 
decline  vesting  their  funds  in  its  bonds.  If  they  find  war  threat 
ened,  they  will  speculate  on  the  consequences  j  and  they  will  in 
dulge  in  conjectures  about  the  future  condition  of  a  country  in 
given  contingencies  !  Very  strange  !  They  have  seen — all  the 
world  is  too  familiar  with — these  embarrassments  and  distresses 
brought  upon  the  people  of  the  United  States  by  the  measures 
of  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his  illustrious  predecessor.  They  conclude 
that,  if  he  be  re-elected,  there  will  be  no  change  of  those  meas 
ures,  and  no  better  times  in  the  United  States.  On  the  contrary, 
if  Gen.  Harrison  be  elected,  they  argue  that  a  sound  currency 
may  be  restored,  confidence  return,  and  business  once  more  be 
active  and  prosperous.  They  therefore  tell  their  Missouri  bank 
ing  correspondents  that  American  bonds  and  stocks  will  continue 
to  depreciate  if  Mr.  Van  Buren  be  re-elected ;  but  that,  if  his 
competitor  should  succeed,  they  will  rise  in  value  and  sell  more 
readily  in  the  market.  And  these  opinions  and  speculations  of 
the  English  bankers,  carefully  concealed  from  the  vulgar  gaze 
of  the  people,  and  locked  up  in  the  vaults  of  a  Locofoco  bank, 
(what  wonders  they  may  have  wrought  there  have  not  been  dis 
closed,)  are  dragged  out  and  paraded  as  full  proof  of  the  corrupt 
exercise  of  a  foreign  influence  in  the  election  of  Gen.  Harrison 
as  President  of  the  United  States.  Why,  sir,  the  amount  of  the 
whole  of  it  is,  that  the  gentlemen,  calling  themselves,  most  erro 
neously,  the  Democratic  party,  have  administered  the  govern 
ment  so  badly,  that  they  nave  lost  all  credit  and  confidence  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  because  the  people  of  the  United  States 
have  refused  to  trust  them  any  longer,  and  foreign  bankers  will 
not  trust  them  either,  they  utter  a  whining  cry  that  their  recent 
signal  defeat  has  been  the  work  of  foreign  influence  ! 

[Loud  laughter  in  the  galleries.] 

Democratic  party  !  They  have  not  the  slightest  pretension  to 
this  denomination.  In  the  school  of  1798,  in  which  I  was  taught, 
and  to  which  I  have  ever  faithfully  adhered,  we  were  instructed 
to  be  watchful  and  jealous  of  executive  power,  enjoined  to  prac 
tice  economy  in  the  public  disbursements,  and  urged  to  rally 
around  the  people,  and  not  attach  ourselves  to  the  Presidential 
car.  This  was  Jefferson's  democracy.  But  the  modern  demo 
crats,  who  have  assumed  the  name,  have  reversed  all  these 
wholesome  maxims,  and  have  given  to  democracy  a  totally  dif 
ferent  version.  They  have  run  it  down,  as  they  have  run  down, 
or  at  least  endangered,  state  rights,  the  right  of  instruction — ad 
mirable  in  their  proper  sphere — and  all  other  rights,  by  perver- 
36* 


426  ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE 

sion  and  extravagance.  But,  thank  God,  true  democracy  and 
true  democrats  have  not  been  run  down.  Thousands  of  those 
who  have  been  deceived  and  deluded  by  false  colors,  will  now 
eagerly  return  to  their  ancient  faith,  and  unite,  under  Harrison's 
banner,  with  their  old  and  genuine  friends  and  principles,  as  they 
Were  held  at  the  epoch  of  1798.  We  shall,  I  trust,  be  all  once 
more  united  as  a  fraternal  band,  ready  to  defend  liberty  against 
all  dangers  that  may  threaten  it  at  home,  and  the  country  against 
aft  that  shall  menace  it  from  abroad. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression  to  the  patriotic  apprehension 
entertained  by  Senators  of  corruption,  if  the  proceeds  of  the  pub 
lic  lands  should  be  distributed  among  the  states.  If,  in  the  hands 
of  the  general  government,  the  land  fund  does  not  lead  to  cor 
ruption,  why  should  it  in  the  hands  of  the  state  governments? — 
Is  there  less  danger  from  the  fund  if  it  remain  undivided  and 
concentrated,  than  if  it  be  distributed  ?  Are  the  state  govern 
ments  more  prone  to  corruption  than  the  federal  government? 
Are  they  more  wasteful  and  extravagant  in  the  expenditure  of 
the  money  of  the  people  ?  I  think  that  if  we  are  to  consult  purity 
and  economy,  we  shall  find  fresh  motives  for  distribution. 

Mr.  President,  two  plans  of  disposing  of  the  vast  public  domain 
belonging  to  the  United  States  have  been,  from  time  to  time,  sub 
mitted  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  and  the  public.  Accord 
ing  to  one  of  them,  it  should  not  be  regarded  as  a  source  of  re 
venue,  either  to  the  general  or  to  the  state  government.  That  I 
have,  I  think,  clearly  demonstrated,  although  the  supporters  of 
that  plan  do  press  the  argument  of  revenue  whenever  the  rival 
plan  is  brought  forward.  They  contend  that  the  general  gov 
ernment,  being  unfit,  or  less  competent  than  the  state  govern 
ments,  to  manage  the-  public  lands,  it  ought  to  hasten  to  get  rid 
of  them,  either  by  reduction  of  the  price,  by  donation,  by  pre 
emptions,  or  by  cessions  to  certain  states,  or  by  all  these  meth 
ods  together. 

Now,  sir,  it  is  manifest  that  the  public  lands  cannot  be  all  set 
tled  in  a  century  or  centuries  to  come.  The  progress  of  their 
settlement  is  indicated  by  the  growth  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States.  There  have  not  been,  on  an  average,  five  mil 
lions  of  acres  per  annum  sold,  during  the  last  half  century. — 
Larger  quantities  will  be  probably  hereafter,  although  not  imme 
diately,  annually  sold.  Now,  when  we  recollect  that  we  have  at 
least  a  billion  of  acres  to  dispose  of,  some  idea  may  be  entertain 
ed,  judging  from  the  past,  of  the  probable  length  of  time  before 
the  whole  is  sold.  Prior  to  their  sale  and  settlement,  the  unoc 
cupied  portion  of  the  public  domain  must  remain  either  in  the 
hands  of  the  general  government  or  in  the  hands  of  the  state  go 
vernments,  or  pass  into  the  hands  of  speculators.  In  the  handa 
of  the  general  government,  if  that  government  shall  perform  its 
duty,  we  know  that  the  public  lands  will  be.  distributed  on  liberal, 
equal,  and  moderate  terms.  The  worst  fate  that  can  befall  them 
would  be  for  them  to  be  acquired  by  speculators.  The  emigrant 


PROCEEDS  OP  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS.         427 

and  settler  would  always  prefer  purchasing  from  government,  at 
fixed  and  known  rates,  rather  than  from  the  speculator,  at  un 
known  rates,  fixed  by  his  cupidity  or  caprice.  But  if  they  are 
transferred  from  the  general  government,  the  best  of  them  will 
be  engrossed  by  speculators.  That  is  the  inevitable  tendency 
of  reduction  of  the  price  by  graduation,  and  of  cession  to  the 
states  within  which  they  lie. 

The  rival  plan  is  for  the  general  government  to  retain  the  pub 
lic  domain,  and  make  distribution  of  the  proceeds  in  time  of  peace 
among  the  several  states,  upon  equal  and  just  principles,  accor 
ding  to  the  rule  of  federal  numbers,  and,  in  time  of  war,  to  resume 
the  proceeds  for  its  vigorous  prosecution.  We  think  that  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  public  lands  had  better  remain  with  the  com 
mon  government,  to  be  regulated  by  uniform  principles,  than 
confided  to  the  states,  to  be  administered  according  to  various, 
and,  perhaps,  conflicting  views.  As  to  that  important  part  of 
them  which  was  ceded  by  certain  states  to  the  United  States  for 
the  common  benefit  of  all  the  states,  a  trust  was  thereby  created 
which  has  been  voluntarily  accepted  by  the  United  States,  and 
which  they  are  not  at  liberty  now  to  decline  or  transfer.  The 
history  of  public  lands  held  in  the  United  States  demonstrates 
that  they  have  been  wasted  or  thrown  away  by  most  of  the  states 
that  owned  any,  and  that  the  general  government  has  displayed 
more  judgment  and  wisdom  in  the  administration  of  them  than 
any  of  the  states.  Whilst  it  is  readily  admitted  that  revenue 
should  not  be  regarded  as  the  sole  or  exclusive  object,  the  pecu 
niary  advantages  which  may  be  derived  from  this  great  national 
property  to  both  the  states  and  the  Union  ought  not  to  be  alto 
gether  overlooked. 

The  measure  which  I  have  had  the  honor  to  propose  settles 
this  great  and  agitating  question  forever.  It  is  founded  upon  no 
partial  and  unequal  basis,  aggrandizing  a  few  of  the  states  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  rest.  It  stands  on  a  just,  broad,  and  liberal 
foundation.  It  is  a  measure  applicable  not  only  to  the  states  now 
in  being,  but  to  the  territories,  as  states  shall  hereafter  be  formed 
out  of  them,  and  to  all  new  states  as  they  shall  rise  tier  behind 
tier,  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  It  is  a  system  operating  upon  a  space 
almost  boundless,  and  adapted  to  all  future  time.  It  was  a  noble 
spirit  of  harmony  and  union  that  prompted  the  revolutionary 
states  originally  to  cede  to  the  United  States.  How  admirably 
does  this  measure  conform  to  that  spirit  and  tend  to  the  perpetu 
ity  of  our  glorious  Union  !  The  imagination  can  hardly  conceive 
one  fraught  with  more  harmony  and  union  among  the  states.  If 
to  the  other  ties  that  bind  us  together  as  one  people  be  super- 
added  the  powerful  interest  springing  out  of  a  just  administra 
tion  of  our  exhaustless  public  domain,  by  which,  for  a  long  suc 
cession  of  ages,  in  seasons  of  peace,  the  states  will  enjoy  the 
benefit  of  the  great  and  growing  revenue  which  it  produces,  and 
in  periods  of  war  that  revenue  will  be  applied  to  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  we  shall  be  forever  linked  together  with  the  strength 


428  ON  THE  VETO  OP  THE 

of  adamantine  chains.  No  section,  no  state,  would  ever  be  mad 
enough  to  break  off  from  the  Union,  and  deprive  itself  of  the  in 
estimable  advantages  which  it  secures.  Although  thirty  or 
forty  more  new  states  should  be  admitted  into  this  Union,  this 
measure  would  cement  them  all  fast  together.  The  honorable 
senator  from  Missouri  near  me,  (Mr.  Linn,)  is  very  anxious  to 
have  a  settlement  formed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oregon,  and  he 
will  probably  be  gratified  at  no  very  distant  day.  Then  will  be 
seen  members  of  Congress  from  the  Pacific  states  scaling  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  passing  through  the  country  of  the  grizzly 
bear,  descending  the  turbid  Missouri,  entering  the  father  of 
rivers,  ascending  the  beautiful  Ohio,  and  coming  to  this  Capitol, 
to  take  their  seats  in  its  spacious  and  magnificent  halls.  Proud 
of  the  commission  they  bear,  and  happy  to  find  themselves  here 
in  council  with  friends  and  brothers  and  countrymen,  enjoying 
the  incalculable  benefits  of  this  great  confederacy,  and  among 
them  their  annual  distributive  share  of  the  issues  of  a  nation's 
inheritance,  would  even  they,  the  remote  people  of  the  Pacific,, 
ever  desire  to  separate  themselves  from  such  a  high  and  glorious 
destiny  ?  The  fund  which  is  to  be  dedicated  to  these  great  and 
salutary  purposes  does  not  proceed  from  a  few  thousand  acres 
of  land,  soon  to  be  disposed  of;  but  of  more  than  ten  hundred 
millions  of  acres ;  and  age  after  age  may  roll  away,  state  after 
state  arise,  generation  succeed  generation,  and  still  the  fund  will 
remain  not  only  unexhausted  but  improved  and  increasing,  for 
the  benefit  of  our  children's  children  to  the  remotest  posterity. 
The  measure  is  not  one  pregnant  with  jealousy,  discord,  or  di 
vision,  but  it  is  a  far-reaching,  comprehensive,  healing  measure 
of  compromise  and  composure,  having  for  its  patriotic  object  the 
harmony,  the  stability,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  states  and  of 
the  Union. 


ON  THE  VETO  OF  THE  BANK  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

On  the  Executive  Message  containing  the  President's  objections 

to  the  Rank  Bill. 
In  Senate  of  United  States,  August  19, 1841. 

Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  rose  and  addressed  the  Senate  as  fol 
lows  :  Mr.  President,  the  bill  which  forms  the  present  subject  of 
our  deliberations  had  passed  both  Houses  of  Congress  by  de 
cisive  majorities,  and,  in  conformity  with  the  requirements  of  the 
constitution,  was  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  State* 
for  his  consideration.  He  has  returned  it  to  the  Senate,  in 
which  it  originated,  according  to  the  directions  of  the  constitu 
tion,  with  a  message  announcing  his  veto  of  the  bill,  and  con 
taining  his  objections  to  its  passage.  And  the  question  now  to 


BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  429 

be  decided  is, — shall  the  bill  pass,  by  the  required  constitutional 
majority  of  two-thirds,  the  President's  objections  notwithstanding. 

Knowing,  sir,  but  too  well  that  no  such  majority  can  be 
obtained,  and  that  the  bill  must  fall,  1  would  have  been  re 
joiced  to  have  found  myself  at  liberty  to  abstain  from  saying 
one  word  on  this  painful  occasion.  Bat  the  President  has  not 
allowed  me  to  give  a  silent  vote.  I  think,  with  all  respect  and 
deference  to  him,  he  has  not  reciprocated  the  friendly  spirit  of 
concession  and  compromise  which  animated  Congress  in  the 
provisions  of  the  bill,  and  especially  in  the  modification  of  the 
sixteenth  fundamental  condition  of  the  bank.  He  has  comment 
ed,  I  think,  with  undeserved  severity  on  that  part  of  the  bill ;  he 
has  used,  I  am  sure  unintentionally,  harsh,  if  not  reproachful 
language ;  and  he  has  made  the  very  concession,  which  was 
prompted  as  a  peace-offering,  and  from  friendly  considerations, 
the  cause  of  stronger  and  more  decided  disapprobation  of  the 
bill.  Standing  in  the  relation  to  that  bill  which  I  do,  and  espe 
cially  to  the  exceptionable  clause,  the  duty  which  I  owe  to  the 
Senate  and  to  the  country,  and  self-respect,  impose  upon  me  the 
obligation  of  at  least  attempting  the  vindication  of  a  measure 
which  has  met  with  a  fate  so  unmerited  and  so  unexpected. 

On  the  fourth  of  April  last,  the  lamented  Harrison,  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  paid  the  debt  of  nature.  President 
Tyler,  who,  as  Vice-President,  succeeded  to  the  duties  of  that 
office,  arrived  in  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  6th  of  that 
month.  He  found  the  whole  metropolis  wrapped  in  gloom, 
every  heart  filled  with  sorrow  and  sadness,  every  eye  streaming 
with  tears,  and  the  surrounding  hills  yet  flinging  back  the  echoes 
of  the  bells  which  were  tolled  on  that  melancholy  occasion. 
On  entering  the  Presidential  mansion  he  contemplated  the  pale 
body  of  his  predecessor  stretched  before  him,  and  clothed  in  the 
black  habiliments  of  death.  At  that  solemn  moment  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  heart  of  President  Tyler  was  overflowing  with 
mingled  emotions  of  grief,  of  patriotism,  and  of  gratitude — above 
all,  of  gratitude  to  that  country  by  a  majority  of  whose  suffrages, 
bestowed  at  the  preceding  November,  he  then  stood  the  most 
distinguished,  the  most  elevated,  the  most  honored  of  all  living 
Whigs  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances,  and  in  this  probable  state 
of  mind,  that  President  Tyler,  on  the  10th  day  of  the  same 
month  of  April,  voluntarily,  promulgated  an  address  to  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States.  That  address  was  in  the  nature  of  a 
coronation  oath,  which  the  Chief  of  the  state,  in  other  countries, 
and  under  other  forms,  takes,  upon  ascending  the  throne.  It 
referred  to  the  solemn  obligations,  and  the  profound  sense  of 
duty,  under  which  the  new  President  entered  upon  the  high 
trust  which  had  devolved  upon  him,  by  the  joint  acts  of  the  peo 
ple  and  of  Providence,  and  it  stated  the  principles  and  delineated 
the  policy  by  which  he  would  be  governed  in  his  exalted  station* 


430  ON  THE  VETO   OF  THE 

It  was  emphatically  a  Whig  address,  from  beginning  to  end — 
every  inch  of  it  was  Whig,  and  was  patriotic. 

In  that  address  the  President,  in  respect  to  the  subject-matter 
embraced  in  the  present  bill,  held  the  following  conclusive  and 
emphatic  language :  "  I  shall  promptly  give  my  sanction  to  any 
constitutional  measure  which,  originating  in  Congress,  shall  have 
for  its  object  the  restoration  of  a  sound  circulating  medium,  so 
essentially  necessary  to  give  confidence  in  all  the  transactions  of 
life,  to  secure,  to  industry  its  just  and  adequate  rewards,  and  to 
re-establish  the  public  prosperity.  In  deciding  upon  the  adapta 
tion  of  any  such  measure  to  the  end  proposed,  as  well  as  its 
conformity  to  the  constitution,  I  shall  resort  to  the  fathers  of  the 
great  Republican  school  for  advice  and  instruction,  to  be  drawn 
from  their  sage  views  of  our  system  of  government,  and  the  light 
of  their  ever  glorious  example." 

To  this  clause  in  the  address  of  the  President,  I  believe  but 
one  interpretation  was  given  throughout  this  whole  country,  by 
friend  and  foe,  by  Whig  and  Democrat,  and  by  the  presses  of 
both  parties.  It  was,  by  every  man  with  whom  I  conversed  on 
the  subject  at  the  time  of  its  appearance,  or  of  whom  I  have  since 
inquired,  construed  to  mean  that  the  President  intended  to  occu 
py  the  Madison  ground,  and  to  regard  the  question  of  the  power 
to  establish  a  national  bank  as  immovably  settled.  And  I  think 
I  may  confidently  appeal  to  the  Senate,  and  to  the  country,  to 
sustain  the  fact  that  this  was  the  contemporaneous  and  unani 
mous  judgment  of  the  public.  Reverting  back  to  the  period  of 
the  promulgation  of  the  address,  could  any  other  construction 
have  been  given  to  its  language ?  What  is  it ?  "I  shall  prompt 
ly  give  my  sanction  to  any  constitutional  measure  which,  origi 
nating  in  Congress"  shall  have  defined  objects  in  view.  He 
concedes  the  vital  importance  of  a  souud  circulating  medium  to 
industry  and  to  the  public  prosperity.  He  concedes  that  its  ori 
gin  must  be  in  Congress.  And,  to  prevent  any  inference  from, 
the  qualification,  which  he  prefixes  to  the  measure,  being  inter 
preted  to  mean  that  a  United  States  Bank  was  unconstitutional, 
he  declares  that,  in  deciding  on  the  adaptation  of  the  measure 
to  the  end  proposed,  and  its  conformity  to  the  constitution,  he 
will  resort  to  the  fathers  of  the  great  republican  school.  And 
who  were  they?  If  the  father  of  his  country  is  to  be  excluded, 
are  Madison,  (the  father  of  the  constitution,)  Jefferson,  Monroe, 
Gerry,  Gallatin,  and  the  long  list  of  republicans  who  acted  with 
them,  not  to  be  regarded  as  among  those  fathers  ?  But  Presi 
dent  Tyler  declares  that  he  shall  not  look  to  the  principles  and 
creed  of  the  republican  fathers  for  advice  and  instruction,  but  to 
the  light  of  their  ever  glorious  EXAMPLE.  What  example  ? — 
What  other  meaning  could  have  been  possibly  applied  to  the 
phrase,  than  that  he  intended  to  refer  to  what  had  beeu  done 
during  the  administration  of  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Monroe  ? 

Entertaining  this  opinion  of  the  address,  I  came  to  Washing 
ton,  at  the  commencement  of  the  session,  with  the  most  confident 


BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  431 

and  buoyant  hopes  that  the  Whigs  would  be  able  to  carry  all 
rheir  prominent  measures,  and  especially  a  bank  of  the  United 
States,  by  far  that  one  of  the  greatest  immediate  importance. 
I  anticipated  nothing  but  cordial  co-operation  between  the  two 
departments  of  government;  and  I  reflected  with  pleasure  that  I 
should  find,  at  the  head  of  the  Executive  branch,  a  personal  and 
political  friend,  whom  I  had  long  and  intimately  known,  and 
highly  esteemed.  It  will  not  be  my  fault  if  our  amicable  rela 
tions  should  unhappily  cease,  in  consequence  of  any  difference 
of  opinion  between  us  on  this  occasion.  The  President  has 
been  always  perfectly  familiar  with  my  opinion  on  this  bank 
question. 

Upon  the  opening  of  the  session,  but  especially  on  the  receipt 
of  the  plan  of  a  national  bank,  as  proposed  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  fears  were  excited  that  the  President  had  been 
misunderstood  in  his  address,  and  that  he  had  not  waived  but 
adhered  to  his  constitutional  scruples.  Under  these  circum 
stances  it  was  hoped  that,  by  the  indulgence  of  a  mutual  spirit 
of  compromise  and  concession,  a  bank,  competent  to  fulfil  the 
expectations  and  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  people,  might  be  estab 
lished. 

Under  the  influence  of  that  spirit,  the  Senate  and  the  House 
agreed,  first,  as  to  the  name  of  the  proposed  bank.  I  confess, 
sir,  that  there  was  something  exceedingly  outree  and  revolting 
to  my  ears  in  the  term  "  Fiscal  Bank,"  but  I  thought,  "  What  is 
there  in  a  name  ?  A  rose,  by  any  other  name,  would  smell  as 
mveet."  Looking  therefore,  rather  to  the  utility  of  the  substan 
tial  faculties  than  to  the  name  of  the  contemplated  institution,  we 
consented  to  that  which  was  proposed. 

2d.  As  to  the  place  of  location  of  the  bank.  Although  Wash 
ington  had  passed  through  my  mind  as  among  the  cities  in 
which  it  might  be  expedient  to  place  the  bank,  it  was  believed 
10  be  the  least  eligible  of  some  four  or  five  other  cities.  Never 
theless  we  consented  to  fix  it  here. 

And  lastly,  in  respect  to  the  branching  power,  there  was  not 
probably  a  solitary  vote,  given  in  either  house  of  Congress,  for 
ihe  bill,  that  did  not  greatly  prefer  the  unqualified  branching 
poxver,  as  asserted  in  the  charters  of  the  two  former  banks  of  the 
United  States,  to  the  sixteenth  fundamental  condition,  as  finally 
incorporated  in  this  bill.  It  is  perfectly  manifest,  therefore,  that 
it  was  not  in  conformity  with  the  opinion  and  wish  of  majorities 
in  Congress,  but  in  a  friendly  spirit  of  concession  towards  the 
President  and  his  particular  friends,  that  the  clause  assumed  that 
form.  So  repugnant  was  it  to  some  of  the  best  friends  of  a  na 
tional  bank  in  the  other  House,  that  they  finally  voted  against 
the  bill  because  it  contained  the  compromise  of  the  branching 
power. 

It  is  true  that,  in  presenting  the  compromise  to  the  Senate,  I 
stated,  as  was  the  fact,  that  I  did  not  know  whether  it  would  be 


452  ON  THE  VETO  OP  THE 

acceptable  to  the  President  or  not;  that,  according  to  my  OpitH- 
ion,  each  department  of  the  government  should  act  upon  its  own 
responsibility,  independently  of  the  other;  and  that  I  presented 
the  modification  of  ths  branching  power  because  it  was  necessary 
to  ensure  the  passage  of  the  bill  in  the  Senate,  having  ascertain 
ed  that  the  vote  would  stand  twenty-six  against  it  to  twenty-five, 
if  the  form  of  that  power  which  had  been  reported  by  the  commit 
tee  were  persisted  in.  But  I  nevertheless  did  entertain  the  most 
confident  hopes  and  expectations  that  the  bill  would  receive  the 
sanction  of  the  President ;  and  this  motive,  although  not  the  im 
mediate  one,  had  great  weight  in  the  introduction  and  adoption 
of  the  compromise  clause.  I  knew  that  our  friends  who  would 
not  vote  for  the  bill  as  reported  were  actuated,  as  they  avowed, 
by  considerations  of  union  and  harmony,  growing  out  of  sup 
posed  views  of  the  President,  and  I  presumed  that  he  would  not 
fail  to  feel  and  appreciate  their  sacrifices.  But  I  deeply  regret, 
that  we  were  mistaken.  Notwithstanding  all  our  concessions, 
made  in  a  genuine  and  sincere  spirit  of  conciliation,  the  sanction 
of  the  President  could  not  be  obtained,  and  the  bill  has  been  re 
turned  by  him  with  his  objections. 

And  I  shall  now  proceed  to  consider  those  objections,  with  as 
much  brevity  as  possible,  but  with  the  most  perfect  respect, 
official  and  personal,  towards  the  Chief  Magistrate. 

After  stating  that  the  power  of  Congress  to  establish  a  na 
tional  bank,  to  operate  per  se,  has  been  a  controverted  question 
from  the  origin  of  the  government,  the  President  remarks,  "Men 
most  justly  and  deservedly  esteemed  for  their  high  intellectual 
endowments,  their  virtue  and  their  patriotism,  have,  to  regard  to 
it,  entertained  different  and  conflicting  opinions.  Congresses 
have  differed.  The  approval  of  one  President  has  been  followed 
by  the  disapproval  of  another." 

From  this  "statement  of  the  case  it  may  be  inferred  that  the 
President  considers  the  weight  of  authority,  pro  and  con,  to  be 
equal  and  balanced.  But  if  he  intended  to  make  such  an  array 
of  it — if  he  intended  to  say  that  it  was  in  equilibrium — I  most 
respectfully,  but  most  decidedly,  dissent  from  him.  I  think  the 
conjoint  testimony  of  history,  tradition,  and  the  knowledge  of 
living  witnesses  prove  the  contrary.  How  stands  the  question 
as  to  the  opinions  of  Congresses?  The  Congress  of  1791,  the 
Congress  of  1813-14,  the  Congress  of  1815-16,  the  Congress  of 
1831-32,  and,  finally,  the  present  Congress,  have  all  respectively 
and  unequivocally,  affirmed  the  existence  of  a  power  in  Congress, 
to  establish  a  national  bank,  to  operate  per  se.  We  behold,  then, 
the  concurrent  opinion  of  five  different  Congresses  on  one  side. 
And  what  Congress  is  there  on  the  opposite  side  ?  The  Con 
gress  of  1811?  I  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  in  that  year, 
when  it  decided,  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Vice-President, 
against  the  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  old  bank  of  the  United 
States.  And  I  now  here,  in  my  place,  add  to  the  testimony 
already  before  the  public,  by  declaring  that  it  is  within  my  cer- 


BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  433 

tain  knowledge,  that  that  decision  of  the  Senate  did  not  proceed 
from  a  disbelief  of  a  majority  of  the  Senate  in  the  power  of  Con 
gress  to  establish  a  national  bank,  but  from  combined  considera 
tions  of  inexpediency  and  constitutionality.  A  majority  of  the 
Senate,  on  the  contrary,  as  I  know,  entertained  no  doubt  as  to 
the  power  of  Congress.  Thus  the  account,  as  to  the  Con 
gresses,  stands  five  for,  and  not  one,  or  at  most,  not  more  than 
one,  against  the  power. 

Let  us  now  look  into  the  state  of  authority  derivable  from  the 
opinions  of  Presidents  of  the  United  States.  President  Wash 
ington  believed  in  the  power  of  Congress,  and  approved  a  bank 
bill.  President  Jefferson  approved  acts  to  extend  branches  into 
other  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  to  punish  counterfeiters  of 
the  notes  of  the  bank — acts  which  were  devoid  of  all  justifica 
tion  whatever  upon  the  assumption  of  the  unconstitutionally  of 
the  bank.  For  how  could  branches  be  extended  or  punishment 
be  lawfully  inflicted  upon  the  counterfeiters  of  the  paper  of  a 
corporation  which  came  into  existence  without  any  authority, 
and  in  violation  of  the  constitution  of  the  land?  James  Madison, 
notwithstanding  those  early  scruples  which  he  had  entertained, 
and  which  he  probably  still  cherished,  sanctioned  and  signed  a 
bill  to  charter  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States.  It  is  perfectly 
well  known  that  Mr.  Munroe  never  did  entertain  any  scruples  or 
doubts  in  regard  to  the  power  of  Congress.  Here,  then,  are 
four  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  who  have  directly  or  col 
laterally  borne  official  testimony  to  the  existence  of  the  bank 
power  in  Congress.  And  what  President  is  there  that  ever 
bore  unequivocally  opposite  testimony — that  disapproved  a  bank 
charter  in  the  sense  intended  by  President  Tyler  ?  Gen.  Jack 
son,  although  he  did  apply  the  veto  .power  to  the  bill  for  re- 
chartering  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States  in  1832,  it  is  with 
in  the  perfect  recollection  of  us  all  that  he  not  only  testified  to 
the  utility  of  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  but  declared  that,  if 
he  had  been  applied  to  by  Congress,  he  could  have  furnished 
the  plan  of  such  a  bank. 

Thus,  Mr.  President,  we  perceive  that,  in  reviewing  the  action 
of  the  legislative  and  executive  departments  of  the  government, 
there  is  a  vast  preponderance  of  the  weight  of  authority  main 
taining  the  existence  of  the  power  in  Congress.  But  President 
Tyler  has,  I  presume  unintentionally,  wholly  omitted  to  notice 
the  judgment  and  decisions  of  the  third  co-ordinate  department 
of  the  government  upon  this  controverted  question — that  depart 
ment,  whose  interpretations  of  the  constitution,  within  its  proper 
jurisdiction  and  sphere  of  action,  are  binding  upon  all ;  and 
which,  therefore,  may  be  considered  as  exercising  a  controlling 
power  over  both  the  other  departments.  The  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  with  its  late  chief  justice,  the  illustrious 
Marshall,  at  its  head,  unanimously  decided  that  Congress  pos 
sessed  this  bank  pcwer;  and  this  adjudication  was  sustained 
37 


434  ON  THE  VETO  OP  THE 

and  re-affirmed  whenever  afterwards  the  question  arose  before 
the  court. 

After  recounting  the  occasions,  during  his  public  career,  on 
which  he  had  expressed  an  opinion  against  the  power  of  Con 
gress  to  charter  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  the  President  pro 
ceeds  to  say:  "  Entertaining  the  opinions  alluded  to, and  having 
taken  this  oath,  the  Senate,  and  the  country  will  see  that  I  could 
not  give  my  sanction  to  a  measure  of  the  character  described 
without  surrendering  all  claim  to  the  respect  of  honorable  men 
— all  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  people — all  self-respect — all 
regard  for  moral  and  religious  obligations  ;  without  an  obser 
vance  of  which  no  government  can  be  prosperous,  and  no  peo 
ple  can  be  happy.  It  would  be  to  commit  a  crime  which  I 
would  not  wilfully  commit  to  gain  any  earthly  reward,  and 
which  would  justly  subject  me  to  the  ridicule  and  scorn  of  all 
virtuous  men." 

Mr.  President,  I  must  think,  and  hope  I  may  be  allowed  to 
say,  with  profound  deference  to  the  chief  magistrate,  that  it  ap 
pears  to  me  he  has  viewed  with  too  lively  sensibility  the  personal 
consequences  to  himself  of  his  approval  of  the  bill ;  and  that, 
surrendering  himself  to  a  vivid  imagination,  he  has  depicted 
them  in  much  too  glowing  and  exaggerated  colors,  and  that  it 
would  have  been  most  happy  if  he  had  looked  more  to  the  de 
plorable  consequences  of  a  veto  upon  the  hopes,  the  interests, 
and  the  happiness  of  his  country.  Does  it  follow  that  a  magis 
trate  who  yields  his  private  judgment  to  the  concurring  authori 
ty  of  numerous  decisions,  repeatedly  and  deliberately  pro 
nounced,  after  the  lapse  of  long  intervals,  by  all  the  departments 
of  government,  and  by  all  parties,  incurs  the  dreadful  penalties 
described  by  the  President?  Can  any  man  be  disgraced  and 
dishonored  who  yields  his  private  opinion  to  the  judgment  of  the 
nation?  In  this  case,  the  country,  (I  mean  a  majority,)  Con 
gress,  and  according  to  common  fame,  an  unanimous  cabinet, 
were  all  united  in  favor  of  the  bill.  Should  any  man  feel  him 
self  humbled  and  degraded  in  yielding  to  the  conjoint  force  of 
such  high  authority?  Does  any  man,  who  at  one  period  of  his 
life  shall  have  expressed  a  particular  opinion,  and  at  a  subse 
quent  period  shall  act  upon  the  opposite  opinion,  expose  himself 
to  the  terrible  consequences  which  have  been  portrayed  by  the 
President?  How  is  it  with  the  judge;  in  the  case  by  no  means 
rare,  who  bows  to  the  authority  of  repeated  precedents,  settling 
a  particular  question,  whilst  in  his  private  judgment  the  law  was 
otherwise?  How  is  it  with  that  numerous  class  of  public  men 
in  this  country,  and  with  the  two  great  parties  that  have  divided 
it,  who,  at  different  periods,  have  maintained  and  acted  on  op 
posite  opinions  in  respect  to  this  very  bank  question  ? 

How  is  it  with  James  Madison,  the  father  of  the  constitution — 
that  great  man  whose  services  to  his  country  placed  him  only 
second  to  Washington — whose  virtues  and  purity  in  private  life 
— whoec  patriotism,  intelligence,  and  wisdom  in  public  councils 


BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  435 

stand  unsurpassed?  He  was  a  member  of  the  national  conven 
tion  that  formed,  and  of  the  Virginia  convention  that  adopted 
the  constitution.  No  man  understood  it  better  than  he  did.  He 
was  opposed  in  1791  to  the  establishment  of  the  bank  of  the 
United  States  upon  constitutional  ground;  and  in  1816  he  ap 
proved  and  signed  the  charter  of  the  late  bank  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  a  part  of  the  secret  history  connected  with  the  first 
bank,  that  James  Madison  had,  at  the  instance  of  General  Wash 
ington,  prepared  a  veto  for  him  in  the  contingency  of  his  rejec 
tion  of  the  bill.  Thus  stood  James  Madison  when,  in  1815,  he 
applied  the  veto  to  a  bill  to  charter  a  bank  upon  considerations 
of  expediency,  but  with  a  clear  and  express  admission  of  the 
existence  of  a  constitutional  power  in  Congress  to  charter  one. 
In  1816,  the  bill  which  was  then  presented  to  him  being  free 
from  the  objections  applicable  to  that  of  the  previous  year,  he 
sanctioned  and  signed  it.  Did  James  Madison  surrender  "  all 
claim  to  the  respect  of  honorable  men — all  confidence  on  the 
part  of  the  people — all  self-respect — all  regard  for  moral  and  re 
ligious  obligations  ?"  Did  the  pure,  the  virtuous,  the  gii'ted 
James  Madison,  by  his  sanction  and  signature  to  the  charter 
of  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States,  commit  a  crime  which 
justly  subjected  him  "  tc  the  ridicule  and  scorn  of  all  virtuous 
men?1' 

Not  only  did  the  President,  as  it  respectfully  appears  to  me, 
state  entirely  too  strongly  the  consequences  of  his  approval  of 
the  bill,  but  is  he  perfectly  correct  in  treating  the  question,  (as 
he  seems  to  me  to  have  done,)  which  he  was  called  upon  to  de 
cide,  as  presenting  the  sole  alternative  of  his  direct  approval  or 
rejection  of  the  bill  ?  Was  the  preservation  of  the  consistency 
and  the  conscience  of  the  President  wholly  irreconcilable  with 
the  restoration  of  the  blessings  of  a  sound  currency,  regular  and 
moderate  exchanges,  and  the  revival  of  confidence  and  business 
which  Congress  believes  will  be  secured  by  a  national  bank  ! — 
Was  there  no  alternative  but  to  prolong  the  sufferings  of  a 
bleeding  country,  or  to  send  us  this  veto !  From  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  executive  department  of  the  government,  during 
the  last  twelve  years,  has  sprung  most  of  the  public  ills  which 
have  afflicted  the  people.  •  Was  it  necessary  that  that  source  of 
suffering  should  continue  to  operate,  in  order  to  preserve  the 
conscience  of  the  President  unviolated  ?  Was  that  the  only  sad 
and  deplorable  alternative  ?  I  think,  Mr.  President,  there  were 
other  alternatives  worthy  of  the  serious  and  patriotic  considera 
tion  of  the  President.  The  bill  might  have  become  a  law,  in  vir 
tue  of  the  provision  which  required  its  return  within  ten  days. 
If  the  President  had  retained  it  three  days  longer,  it  would  have 
been  a  law,  without  his  sanction  and  without  his  signature.  In 
such  a  contingency,  the  President  would  have  remained  passive, 
and  would  not  have  been  liable  to  any  accusation  of  having 
himself  violated  the  constitution.  All  that  could  have  been  just 
ly  said  would  be,  that  he  did  not  choose  to  throw  himself  in  the 


436  ON  THE  VETO  OP  THE 

way  as  an  obstacle  to  the  passage  of  a  measure  indispensable  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  nation,  in  the  judgment  of  the  party  which 
brought  him  into  power,  of  the  Whig  Congress  which  he  first 
met,  and,  if  public  fame  speaks  true,  of  the  cabinet  which  the 
lamented  Harrison  called  around  him,  and  which  he  voluntarily 
continued.  In  an  analogous  case,  Thomas  McKean,  when  gov 
ernor  of  Pennsylvania,  than  whom  the  United  States  have  pro 
duced  but  few  men  of  equal  vigor  of  mind  and  firmness  of  pur 
pose,  permitted  a  bill  to  become  a  law,  although,  in  his  opin 
ion,  it  was  contrary  to  the  constitution  of  that  state.  And,  I 
have  heard,  and,  from  the  creditable  nature  of  the  source,  I  am 
inclined  to  believe,  although  I  will  not  vouch  for  the  fact,  that, 
towards  the  close  of  the  charter  of  the  first  bank  of  the  United 
States,  during  the  second  term  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  some  considera 
tion  of  the  question  of  the  renewal  of  the  charter  was  entertained, 
and  that  he  expressed  a  wish  that,  if  the  charter  were  renewed, 
it  might  be  effected  by  the  operation  of  the  ten  days  provision, 
and  his  consistency  thus  preserved. 

If  it  were  possible  to  disinter  the  venerated  remains  of  James 
Madison,  reanimate  his  perishing  form,  and  place  him  once  more 
in  that  chair  of  state,  which  he  so  much  adorned,  what  would 
have  been  his  course,  if  this  bill  had  been  presented  to  him,  even 
supposing  him  never  to  have  announced  his  acquiescence  in 
the  settled  judgment  of  the  nation  ?  He  would  Have  said,  that 
human  controversy  in  regard  to  a  single  question  should  not  be 
perpetual,  and  ought  to  have  a  termination.  This,  about  the 
power  to  establish  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  has  been  long 
enough  continued. 

The  nation,  under  all  the  forms  of  its  public  action,  has  often 
and  deliberately  decided  it.  A  bank,  and  associated  financial 
and  currency  questions,  which  had  long  slept,  were  revived,  and 
have  divided  the  nation  during  the  last  ten  years  of  arduous  and 
"bitter  struggle ;  and  the  party  which  put  down  the  bank,  and 
which  occasioned  all  the  disorders  in  our  currency  and  finances, 
has  itself  been  signally  put  down,  by  one  of  those  moral  and 
political  revolutions  which  a  free  and  patriotic  people  can  but 
seldom  arouse  itself  to  make.  Human  infallibility  has  not  been 
granted  by  God ;  and  the  chances  of  error  are  much  greater  on 
the  side  of  one  man  than  on  that  of  the  majority  of  a  whole  peo 
ple  and  their  successive  legislatures  during  a  long  period  of 
time.  I  yield  to  the  irresistable  force  of  authority.  I  will  not 
put  myself  in  opposition  to  a  measure  so  imperatively  demanded 
by  the  public  voice  and  so  essential  to  elevate  my  depressed  and 
suffering  countrymen. 

And  why  should  not  President  Tyler  have  suffered  the  bill  to 
become  a  law  without  his  signature  ?  Without  meaning  the 
slightest  possible  disrespect  to  him, — nothing  is  further  from  my 
heart  than  the  exhibition  of  any  such  feeling  towards  that  dis 
tinguished  citizen,  long  my  personal  friend — it  cannot  be  forgot 
ten  that  he  came  into  his  present  office  under  peculiar  circum- 


BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  437 

stances.  The  people  did  not  foresee  the  contingency  which  has 
happened.  They  voted  for  him  as  Vice-President.  They  did 
not,  therefore,  scrutinize  his  opinions  with  the  care  which  they 
probably  ought  to  have  done,  and  would  have  done,  if  they 
could  have  looked  into  futurity.  If  the  present  state  of  the  fact 
could  have  been  anticipated — if  at  Harrisburg,  or  at  the  polls,  it 
had  been  foreseen  that  General  Harrison  would  die  in  one  short 
month  after  the  commencement  of  his  administration;  that  Vice- 
President  Tyler  would  be  elevated  to  the  presidential  chair;  that 
a  bill,  passed  by  decisive  majorities  of  the  first  Whig  Congress, 
chartering  a  national  bank,  would  be  presented  for  his  sanction; 
and  that  he  would  veto  the  bill,  do  I  hazard  any  thing  when  I 
express  the  conviction  that  he  would  not  have  received  a  solitary 
vote  in  the  nominating  convention,  nor  one  solitary  electoral  vote 
in  any  state  in  the  Union  ? 

Shall  I  be  told  that  the  honor,  the  firmness,  the  independence 
of  the  Chief  Magistrate  might  have  been  drawn  in  question  if 
he  had  remained  passive,  and  so  permitted  the  bill  to  become  a 
law  ?  I  answer  that  the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate  is  a  sacred 
and  exalted  trust,  created  and  conferred  for  the  benefit  of  the 
nation,  and  not  for  the  private  advantage  of  the  person  who  fills 
it.  Can  any  man's  reputation  for  firmness,  independence,  and 
honor,  be  of  more  importance  than  the  welfare  -of  a  great  peo 
ple?  There  is  nothing,  in  my  humble  judgment,  in  such  a 
course,  incompatible  with  honor,  with  firmness,  with  indepen 
dence  properly  understood. 

Certainly,  I  must  respectfully  think  in  reference  to  a  measure 
like  this,  recommended  by  sur.h  high  sanctions — by  five  Con 
gresses — by  the  authority  of  four  Presidents — by  repeated  decis 
ions  of  the  Supreme  Court— by  the  acquiescence  and  judgment 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  during  long  periods  of  time — 
by  its  salutary  operation  on  the  interests  of  the  community  for  a 
space  of  forty  years,  and  demanded  by  the  people  whose  suffrages 
placed  President  Tyler  in  that  second  office,  from  whence  he 
was  translated  to  the  first,  that  he  might  have  suppressed  the 
jpromptings  of  all  personal  pride  of  private  opinion,  if  any  arise 
in  his  bosom,  and  yielded  to  the  wishes  and  wants  of  his  coun 
try.  Nor  do  I  believe  that,  ir  such  a  course,  he  would  have 
made  the  smallest  sacrifice,  m  4  just  sense,  of  personal  honor, 
firmness,  or  independence. 

But,  sir,  there  was  still  a  third  alternative,  to  which  I  allude, 
not  because  I  mean  to  intimate  that  it  should  be  embraced,  but 
because  I  am  reminded  of  it  by  a  memorable  event  in  the  life 
of  President  Tyler.  It  will  be  recollected  that,  after  the  Senate 
had  passed  the  resolution  declaring  the  removal  of  the  public 
deposites  from  the  late  bank  of  the^United  States  to  have  been 
derogatory  from  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States, 
for  which  resolution  President,  then  Senator  Tyler,  had  voted, 
the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  instructed  the  Senators  from 


433  ON  THE  VETO   OP  THE 

that  state  to  vote  for  the  expunging  of  that  resolution.     Senator 
Tyler  declined  voting  in  conformity  with  that,  instruction,  and 
reiio-ned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.     This  he 
did  because  he  could  not  conform,  and  did  not  think  it  right  to 
cro  counter,  to  the  wishes  of  those  who  had  placed  him  in  the 
Senate.     If,  when   the  people  of  Virginia  were  his  only  con 
stituency,  he  would  not  set  up  his  own  particular  opinion  in 
opposition  to  theirs,  what  ought  to  be  the  rule   of  his  conduct 
when  the  people  of  twenty-six  states— a  whole  nation— compose 
his  constituency?     Is  the  will  of  the  constituency  of  one  state  to 
be  respected,  and  that  of  twenty-six  to  be  wholly  disregarded'? 
Is  obedience   due  only  to  the  single  state  of  Virginia?     The 
President  admits  that  the  bank  question  deeply  agitated  and 
continues  to  agitate  the  nation.     It  is  incontestable  that  it  was 
the  great,  absorbing,  and  controlling  question,  in  all  our  recent 
divisions  'and  exertions.    I  am  firmly  convinced,  and  it  is  my 
deliberate  judgment,  that  an  immense  majority,  not  less  than 
two-thirds  of  the  nation,  desire  such  an  institution.  _  All  doubts 
in  this  respect  ought  to  be  dispelled  by  the  recent  decisions  of  the 
two  Houses  of  Congress.    I  speak  of  them  as  evidence  of  the 
popular  opinion.     In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  majority 
was  131  to  100.    If  the  House  had  been  full,  and  but  for  the 
modification  of  the  16th  fundamental  condition,  there  would  have 
been  a  probable  majority  of  47.    Is  it  to  be  believed  that  this 
laro-e  majority  of  the  immediate  representatives  of  the  people, 
fresh  from  amongst  them,  and  to  whom  the  President  seemed 
inclined,  in  his  opening  message,  to  refer  this  very  question,  have 
mistaken  the  wishes  of  their  constituents  ? 

I  pass  to  the  sixteenth  fundamental  condition,  in  respect  to  the 
branching  power,  on  which  I  regret  to  feel  myself  obliged  to  say 
that  I  think  the  President  has  commented  with  unexampled  severi 
ty  and  with  a  harshness  of  language  not  favorable  to  the  main 
tenance  of  that  friendly  and  harmonious  intercourse  which  is  so 
desirable  between  co-ordinate  departments  of  the  government. 
The  President  could  not  have  been  uninformed  that  every  one 
of  the  twenty-six  Senators,  and  every  one  of  the  hundred  and 
thirty-one  Representatives  who  voted  for  the  bill,  if  left  to  his 
own  separate  wishes,  would  have  preferred  the  branching  power 
to  have  been  conferred  unconditionally,  as  it  was  in  the  charters 
of  the  two  former  banks  of  the  United  States.     In  consenting  to 
the  restrictions  upon  the  exercise  of  that  power,  he  must  have 
been  perfectly  aware  that  they  were   actuated  by  a  friendly 
spirit  of  compromise  and  concession.     Yet  no  where  in  his  mes- 
sao-e  does  he  reciprocate  or  return  this  spirit.     Speaking  of .the 
assent  or  dissent  which  the  clause  requires,  he  says:       Inis 
IRON  rule  is  to  give  way  to  no  circumstances— it  is  unbending 
and  inflexible.    It  is  the  language  of  the  master  to  the  vassa  . 
An  unconditional   answer  is  claimed  forthwith."     The     nigh 
privilege"  of  a  submission  of  the  question,  on  the  part  of  the 
State  "Representatives,  to  their  constituents,  according  to  the 


BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  439 

message,  is  denied.  He  puts  the  cases  of  the  popular  branch 
of  a  State  Legislature  expressing  its  dissent  "  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  and  its  resolution  may  be  defeated  by  a  tie  vote  in  the 
Senate,"  and  "both  branches  of  the  Legislature  may  concur  in 
a  resolution  of  decided  assent,  and  yet  the  Governor  may  exert 
the  veto  power  conferred  on  him  by  the  state  constitution,  and 
their  legislative  action  be  defeated."  "The  state  may  after 
wards  protest  against  such  unjust  inference,  but  its  authority  is 
gone"  The  President  continues:  "Tjo  inferences  so  violent, 
and,  as  they  seem  to  me,  ii^rational^  I  cannot  yield  my  consent. 
No  court  of  justice  would  or  could  sanction  them,  without  re 
versing  all  that  is  established  in  judicial  proceeding,  by  intro 
ducing  presumptions  at  variance  uith  fact,  and  inferences  at 
the  expense  of  reason.  A  state  in  a  condition  of  duresse  would 
be  presumed  to  speak  as  an  individual,  manacled  and  in  prison, 
might  be  presumed  to  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  freedom.  Far 
better  to  say  to  the  states,  boldly  and  frankly,  Congress  wills, 
and  submission  is  demanded." 

Now,  Mr.  President,  I  will  not  ask  whether  these  animadver 
sions  were  prompted  by  a  reciprocal  spirit  of  amity  and  kind 
ness,  but  I  inquire  whether  all  of  them  are  perfectly  just. 

Beyond  all  question,  those  who  believed  in  the  constitutional 
right  of  Congress  to  exercise  the  branching  power  within  the 
states,  unconditionally  and  without  limitation,  did  make  no  small 
concession  when  they  consented  that  it  should  be  subjected  to 
the  restrictions  specified  in  the  compromise  clause.  They  did 
not,  it  is  true,  concede  every  thing;  they  did  not  absolutely  re 
nounce  the  power  to  establish  branches  without  the  authority 
of  the  states  during  the  whole  period  of  the  existence  of  the 
charter;  but  they  did  agree  that  reasonable  time  should  be  al 
lowed  to  the  several  states  to  determine  whether  they  would  or 
would  not  give  their  assent  to  the  establishment  of  branches 
within  their  respective  limits.  They  did  not  think  it  right  to 
leave  it  an  open  question,  for  the  space  of  twenty  years,  nor  that 
a  state  should  be  permitted  to  grant  to-day  and  revoke  to-mor 
row  its  assent;  nor  that  it  should  annex  onerous  or  impracticable 
conditions  to  its  assent,  but  that  it  should  definitely  decide  the 
question,  after  the  lapse  of  ample  time  for  full  deliberation.  And 
what  was  that  time?  No  state  would  have  had  less  than  four 
months,  and  some  of  them  from  five  to  nine  months,  for  conside 
ration.  Was  it,  therefore,  entirely  correct  for  the  President  to  say 
that  an  "unconditional  answer  is  claimed  forthicith?"  Forth 
with  means  immediately,  instantly,  without  delay,  which  cannot 
be  affirmed  of  a  space  of  time  varying  from  four  to  nine  months. 
And  the  President  supposes  that  the  "high  privilege"  of  the 
members  of  the  State  Legislature  submitting  the  question  to 
their  constituents  is  denied  !  But  could  they  not  at  any  time 
during  that  space  have  consulted  their  constituents  ? 

The  President  proceeds  to  put  what  I  must,  with  the  greatest 
deference  and  respect,  consider  as  extreme  cases.  He  supposes 


440  ON  THE  VETO  OF  THE 

the  popular  branch  to  express  its  dissent  by  a  unanimous  vote, 
which  it  overruled  by  a  tie  in  the  Senate.  He  supposes  that 
"both  branches  of  the  Legislature  may  concur  in  a  resolution 
of  decided  dissent,  and  yet  the  Governor  may  exert  the  veto 
power."  The  unfortunate  case  of  the  state  whose  legislative 
will  should  be  so  checked  by  executive  authority,  would  not  be 
worse  than  that  of  the  Union,  the  will  of  whose  Legislature,  in 
establishing  this  bank,  is  checked  and  controlled  by  the  Presi 
dent. 

But  did  it  not  occur  to  him  that  extreme  cases  brought  for 
ward  on  the  one  side,  might  be  met  by  extreme  cases  suggested 
on  the  other?  Suppose  the  popular  branch  were  to  express  its 
assent  to  the  establishment  of  a  branch  bank  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  which  is  overruled  by  an  equal  vote  in  the  Senate.  Or 
suppose  that  both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  by  majorities  in 
each  exactly  wanting  one  vote  to  make  them  two-thirds,  were  to 
concur  in  a  resolution  inviting  the  introduction  of  a  branch  within 
the  limits  of  the  state,  and  the  Governor  were  to  exercise  the 
veto  power  and  defeat  the  resolution.  Would  it  be  very  unrea 
sonable  in  these  two  cases  to  infer  the  assent  of  the  state  to  the 
establishment  of  a  branch? 

Extreme  cases  should  never  be  resorted  to.  Happily  for  man 
kind,  their  affairs  are  but  seldom  affected  or  influenced  by  them, 
in  consequence  of  the  rarity  of  their  occurrence. 

The  plain,  simple,  unvarnished  statement  of  the  case  is  this : 
Congress  believes  itself  invested  with  constitutional  power  to  au 
thorize,  unconditionally,  the  establishment  of  a  bank  of  the  United 
States  and  branches,  any  where  in  the  United  States,  without  ask 
ing  any  other  consent  of  the  states  than  that  which  is  already 
expressed  in  the  constitution.  The  President  does  not  concur 
in  the  existence  of  that  power,  and  was  supposed  to  entertain 
an  opinion  that  the  previous  assent  of  the  states  was  necessary. 
Here  was  an  unfortunate  conflict  of  opinion.  Here  was  a  case 
for  compromise  and  mutual  concession,  if  the  difference  could 
be  reconciled.  Congress  advanced  so  far  towards  the  compro 
mise  as  to  allow  the  states  to  express  their  assent  or  dissent,  but 
then  it  thought  that  this  should  be  done  within  some  limited  but 
reasonable  time;  and  it  believed,  since  the  bank  and  its  branches 
were  established  for  the  benefit  of  twenty-six  states,  if  the  au 
thorities  of  any  one  of  them  really  could  not  make  up  their  mind 
within  that  limited  time  either  to  assent  or  dissent  to  the  intro 
duction  of  a  branch,  that  it  was  not  unreasonable,  after  the  lapse 
of  the  appointed  time  without  any  positive  action,  one  way  or 
the  other,  on  the  part  of  the  state,  to  proceed  as  if  it  had  assent 
ed.  Now,  if  the  power  contended  for  by  Congress  really  exists, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  here  was  a  concession — a  concession, 
according  to  which  an  unconditional  power  is  placed  under  tem 
porary  restrictions ;  a  privilege  offered  to  the  states  which  wa« 
not  extended  to  them  by  either  of  the  charters  of  two  former 
banks  of  the  United  States.  And  I  am  totally  at  a  loss  to  com- 


BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  441 

prehend  how  the  President  reached  the  conclusion  that  it  would 
Lave  been  "far  better  to  say  to  the  states,  boldly  and  frankly, 
Congress  wills,  and  submission  is  demanded."  Was  it  better 
4br  the  states  that  the  power  of  branching  should  be  exerted 
without  consulting  them  at  all  ?  Was  it  nothing  to  afford  them 
an  opportunity  of  saying  whether  they  desired  branches  or  not? 
How  can  it  be  believed  that  a  clause  which  qualifies,  restricts 
and  limits  the  branching  power,  is  more  derogatory  from  the 
dignity,  independence  and  sovereignty  of  the  states,  than  if  it 
inexorably  refused  to  the  states  any  power  whatever  to  delibe 
rate  and  decide  on  the  introduction  of  branches?  Limited  as 
the  time  was,  and  unconditionally  as  they  were  required  to  ex 
press  themselves,  still  those  states  (and  that  probably  would 
have  been  the  case  with  the  greater  number)  that  chose  to  an 
nounce  their  assent  or  dissent  could  do  so,  and  get  or  prevent 
the  introduction  of  a  branch.  But  the  President  remarks  that 
"the  state  may  express,  after  the  most  solemn  form  of  legisla 
tion,  its  dissent,  which  may  from  time  to  time  thereafter  be  re 
peated,  in  fall  view  of  its  own  interest,  which  can  never  be  sepa 
rated  from  the  wise  and  beneficent  operation  of  this  govern 
ment;  and  yet  Congress  may,  by  virtue  of  the  last  proviso,  over 
rule  its  law,  and  upon  grounds  which,  to  such  state,  will  appear 
to  rest  on  a  constructive  necessity  and  propriety,  and  nothing 
more." 

Even  if  the  dissent  of  a  state  should  be  overruled,  in  the  man 
ner  supposed  by  the  President,  how  is  the  condition  of  that  state 
worse  than  it  would  have  been  if  the  branching  power  had  been 
absolutely  and  unconditionally  asserted  in  the  charter?  There 
would  have  been  at  least  the  power  of  dissenting  conceded,  with 
a  high  degree  of  probability  that  if  the  dissent  were  expressed, 
no  branch  would  be  introduced. 

The  last  proviso  to  which  the  President  refers  is  in  these 
words:  "And  provided,  nevertheless,  That  whenever  it  shall  be 
come  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  any  of 
the  powers  granted  by  the  constitution  to  establish  an  office  or 
offices  in  any  of  the  states  whatever,  and  the  establishment  there 
of  shall  be  directed  by  law,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  direc 
tors  to  establish  such  office  or  offices  accordingly." 

This  proviso  was  intended  to  reserve  a  power  to  Congress  to 
compel  the  bank  to  establish  branches,  if  the  establishment  of 
them  should  be  necessary  to  the  great  purposes  of  this  govern 
ment,  notwithstanding  the  dissent  of  a  state.  If,  for  example,  a 
state  had  once  unconditionally  dissented  to  the  establishment  of 
a  branch,  and  afterwards  assented,  the  bank  could  not  have  been 
compelled,  without  this  reservation  of  power,  to  establish  the 
branch,  however  urgent  the  wants  of  the  treasury  might  be. 

The  President,  I  think,  ought  to  have  seen  in  the  form  and  lan 
guage  of  the  proviso,  the  spirit  of  conciliation  in  which  it  was 
drawn,  as  I  know.  It  does  not  assert  the  power;  it  employs  the 
language  of  the  constitution  itself,  leaving  every  one  free  tc  Ju- 


442  ON  THE  VETO  OF  THE 

terpret  that  language  according  to  his  own  sense  of  the  instill 
raent. 

Why  was  it  deemed  necessary  to  speak  of  its  being  "the  lan 
guage  of  the  master  to  the  vassal,"  of  "  this  iron  rule,"  that "  Con 
gress  wills  and  submission  is  demanded  ?"  What  is  this  whole 
federal  government  but  a  mass  of  powers  abstracted  from  the 
sovereignty  of  the  several  states,  and  wielded  by  an  organized 
government  for  their  common  defence  and  general  welfare,  ac 
cording  to  the  grants  of  the  constitution  ?  These  powers  are  ne 
cessarily  supreme ;  the  constitution,  the  acts  of  Congress,  and 
treaties  being  so  declared  by  the  express  words  of  the  constitu 
tion.  Whenever,  therefore,  this  government  acts  within  the  pow 
ers  granted  to  it  by  the  constitutiou,  submission  and  obedience 
are  due  from  all ;  from  states  as  well  as  from  persons.  And  if 
this  present  the  image  of  a  master  and  a  vassal,  of  state  subjec 
tion  and- Congressional  domination,  it  is  the  constitution,  created 
or  consented  to  by  the  states,  that  ordains  these  relations,  nor 
can  it  be  said,  in  the  contingency  supposed,  that  an  act  of  Con 
gress  has  repealed  an  act  of  state  legislation.  Undoubtedly  in 
case  of  a  conflict  between  a  state  constitution  or  state  law,  and 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States  or  an  act  of  Congress  pass 
ed  in  pursuance  of  it,  the  state  constitution  or  state  law  would 
yield.  But  it  could  not  at  least  be  formally  or  technically  said 
that  the  state  constitution  or  law  was  repealed.  Its  operation 
would  be  suspended  or  abrogated  by  the  necessary  predominance 
of  the  paramount  authority. 

The  President  seems  to  have  regarded  as  objectionable  that 
provision  in  the  clause  which  declares  that  a  branch,  being  once 
established,  it  should  not  afterwards  be  withdrawn  or  removed 
without  the  previous  consent  of  Congress.  That  provision  was 
intended  to  operate  both  upon  the  bank  and  the  states.  And, 
considering  the  changes  and  fluctuations  in  public  sentiment  in 
some  of  the  states  within  the  last  few  years,  was  the  security 
against  them  to  be  found  in  that  provision,  unreasonable  ?  One 
legislature  might  invite  a  branch,  which  the  next  might  attempt, 
by  penal  or  other  legislation,  to  drive  away.  We  have  had  such 
examples  heretofore ;  and  I  cannot  think  that  it  was  unwise  to 
profit  by  experience.  Besides,  an  exactly  similar  provision  was 
contained  in  the  scheme  of  a  bank  which  was  reported  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  to  which  it  was  understood  the 
President  had  given  his  assent.  But  if  I  understand  this  mes 
sage,  that  scheme  could  not  have  obtained  his  sanction,  if  Con 
gress  had  passed  it  without  any  alteration  whatever.  It  autho 
rised,  what  is  termed  by  the  President,  local  discounts,  and  he  doe* 
not  believe  the  constitution  confers  on  Congress  power  to  estab 
lish  a  bank  having  that  faculty.  He  says,  indeed,  "  I  regard  the 
bill  as  asserting  for  Congress  the  right  to  incorporate  a  United 
States  Bank,  with  power  and  right  to  establish  offices  of  discount 
and  deposite  in  the  several  states  of  this  Union,  with  or  without 
their  consent;  a  principle  to  which  I  have  always  heretofore  &e*% 


BANK  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES.  443 

opposed,  and  'which  can  never  obtain  my  sanction."  I  pass  with 
pleasure  from  this  painful  theme ;  deeply  regretting  that  I  have 
been  constrained  so  long  to  dwell  on  it. 

On  a  former  occasion  I  stated  that,  in  the  event  of  an  unfortu 
nate  difference  of  opinion  between  the  legislaive  and  executive 
departments,  the  point  of  difference  might  be  developed,  and  it 
would  be  then  seen  whether  they  could  be  brought  to  coincide  in 
any  measure  corresponding  with  the  public  hopes  and  expecta 
tions.  I  regret  that  the  President  has  not,  in  this  message,  fa 
vored  us  with  a  more  clear  and  explicit  exhibition  of  his  views. 
It  is  sufficiently  manifest  that  he  is  decidedly  opposed  to  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  new  bank  of  the  United  States,  formed  after  the 
two  old  models.  I  think  it  is  fairly  to  be  inferred  that  the  plan 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  could  not  have  received  his 
sanction.  He  is  opposed  to  the  passage  of  the  bill  which  he  has 
returned ;  but  whether  he  would  give  his  approbation  to  any 
bank,  and  if  any,  what  sort  of  a  bank,  is  not  absolutely  clear.  I 
think  it  may  be  collected  from  the  message,  with  the  aid  of  in 
formation  derived  through  other  sources,  that  the  President  would 
concur  in  the  establishment  of  a  bank  whose  operations  should 
be  limited  to  dealing  in  bills  of  exchange,  to  deposites,  and  to  the 
supply  of  a  circulation,  excluding  the  power  of  discounting  pro 
missory  notes.  And  I  understand  that  some  of  our  friends  are 
now  considering  the  practicability  of  arranging  and  passing  a 
bill  in  conformity  with  the  views  of  President  Tyler.  Whilst  I 
regret  that  I  can  take  no  active  part  in  such  an  experiment,  and 
must  reserve  to  myself  the  right  of  determining  whether  I  can 
or  cannot  vote  for  such  a  bill  after  I  see  it  in  its  matured  form,  I 
assure  my  friends  that  they  shall  find  no  obstacle  or  impediment 
in  me.  On  the  contrary,  I  say  to  them,  go  on ;  God  speed  you 
in  any  measure  which  will  serve  the  country,  and  preserve  or 
restore  harmony  and  concert  between  the  departments  of  gov 
ernment.  An  executive  veto  of  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  af 
ter  the  sad  experience  of  late  years,  is  an  event  which  was  not 
anticipated  by  the  political  friends  of  the  President ;  certainly  not 
by  me.  But  it  has  come  upon  us  with  tremendous  weight,  and 
amidst  the  greatest  excitement  within  and  without  the  metropo 
lis.  The  question  now  is,  What  shall  be  done  ?  What,  under 
this  most  embarrassing  and  unexpected  state  of  things,  will  our 
constituents  expect  of  us  ?  What,  is  required  by  the  duty  and 
the  dignity  of  Congress  ?  I  repeat  that  if,  after  a  careful  exami 
nation  of  the  executive  message,  a  bank  can  be  devised  which 
will  afford  any  remedy  to  existing  evils,  and  secure  the  Presi 
dent's  approbation,  let  the  project  of  such  a  bank  be  presented. 
It  shall  encounter  no  opposition,  if  it  should  receive  no  support, 
from  me. 

But  what  further  shall  we  do  ?  Never  since  I  have  enjoyed 
the  honor  of  participating  in  the  public  councils  of  the  nation — 
a  period  now  of  near  thirty-five  years — have  I  met  Congress 
under  more  happy  or  more  favorable  auspices.  Never  have  I 


444  ON  THE  VSTO  OP  THE 

seen  a  House  of  Representatives  animated  by  more  patriotic  dis 
positions — more  united,  more  determined,  more  business-like. — 
Wot  even  that  house  which  declared  war  in  1812  ;  nor  that  which 
in  1815-16,  laid  broad  and  deep  foundations  of  national  prosperi 
ty,  in  adequate  provisions  for  a  sound  currency,  by  the  establish 
ment  of  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  for  the  payment  of  the  na 
tional  debt,  and  for  the  protection  of  American  industry.  This 
house  has  solved  the  problem  of  the  competency  of  a  large  de 
liberative  body  to  transact  the  public  business.  If  happily  there 
had  existed  a  concurrence  of  opinion  and  cordial  co-operation 
between  the  different  departments  of  the  government,  and  all  the 
members  of  the  party,  we  should  have  carried  every  measure 
contemplated  at  the  extra  session,  which  the  people  had  a  right 
to  expect  from  our  pledges,  and  should  have  been,  by  this  time, 
at  our  respective  homes.  We  are  disappointed  in  one,  and  an 
important  one,  of  that  series  of  measures;  but  shall  we  therefore 
despair  ?  Shall  we  abandon  ourselves  to  unworthy  feelings  and 
sentiments  ?  Shall  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  transported  by  rash 
and  intemperate  passions  and  counsels  ?  Shall  we  adjourn  and 
go  home  in  disgust?  No!  No!  No!  A  higher,  nobler,  and 
more  patriotic  career  lies  before  us.  Let  us  here,  at  the  east  end 
of  Pennsylvania  avenue,  do  our  duty,  our  whole  duty,  and  noth 
ing  short  of  our  duty,  towards  our  common  country.  We  have 
repealed  the  Sub-Treasury.  We  have  passed  a  bankrupt  law, 
a  beneficent  measure  of  substantial  and  extensive  relief.  Let 
us  now  pass  the  bill  for  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands ;  the  revenue  bill,  and  the  bill  for  the  benefit  of  the 
oppressed  people  of  the  district.  Let  us  do  all — let  us  do  every 
thing  we  can  for  the  public  good.  If  we  are  finally  to  be  disap 
pointed  in  our  hopes  of  giving  to  the  country  a  bank  which  will 
once  more  supply  it  with  a  sound  currency,  still  let  us  go  home 
and  tell  our  constituents  that  we  did  all  that  we  could  under  ac 
tual  circumstances  ;  and  that,  if  we  did  not  carry  every  measure 
for  their  relief,  it  was  only  because  to  do  so  was  impossible.  If 
nothing  can  be  done  at  this  extra  session  to  put  upon  a  more  sta 
ble  and  satisfactory  basis  the  currency  and  exchanges  of  the 
country,  let  us  hope  that  hereafter  some  way  will  be  found  to 
accomplish  that  most  desirable  object,  either  by  an  amendment 
of  the  constitution,  limiting  and  qualiiying  the  enormous  execu 
tive  power,  and  especially  the  veto,  or  by  increased  majorities  in 
the  two  houses  of  Congress,  competent  to  the  passage  of  wise 
and  salutary  laws,  the  President's  objections  notwithstanding. 

This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  course  now  incumbent  upon  us  to 
pursue ;  and,  by  conforming  to  it,  whatever  may  be  the  result  of 
laudable  endeavors  now  in  progress  or  in  contemplation,  in  rela 
tion  to  a  new  attempt  to  establish  a  bank,  we  shall  go  home, 
bearing  no  self-reproaches  for  neglected  or  abandoned  duties. 


IN  REJOINDER  TO  MR.  RIVES.  445 

ON  THE  BANK  VETO, 

In  reply  to  the  speech  of  Mr.  Rives,  of  Virginia,  on  the  Execu 
tive  Message  containing  the  President's  objections  to  the  Bank 
Bill. 

In  Senate  of  United  States,  August  19, 1841. 

Mr.  Rives  having  concluded  his  remarks — 

Mr.  Clay  rose  in  rejoinder.  I  have  no  desire,  said  he,  to  pro 
long  this  unpleasant  discussion,  but  I  must  say  that  I  heard  with 
great  surprise  and  regret  the  closing  remark,  especially,  of  the 
honorable  gentleman  from  Virginia,  as,  indeed,  I  did  many  of 
those  which  preceded  it.  That  gentleman  stands  in  a  peculiar 
situation.  I  found  him  several  years  ago  in  the  half-way  house, 
where  he  seems  afraid  to  remain,  and  from  which  lie  is  yet  un 
willing  to  go.  I  had  thought,  after  the  thorough  riddling  which 
the  roof  of  the  house  had  received  in  the  breaking  up  of  the  pet 
bank  system,  he  would  have  fled  some  where  else  for  refuge ; 
but  there  he  still  stands,  solitary  and  alone,  shivering  and  pelted 
by  the  pitiless  storm.  The  Sub-Treasury  is  repealed — the  pet 
bank  system  is  abandoned — the  United  States  Bank  Bill  is  vetoed 
— and  now,  when  there  is  as  complete  and  perfect  a  re-union  of 
the  purse  and  the  sword  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive  as  ever 
there  was  under  Gen.  Jackson  or  Mr.  Van  Buren,  the  senator  is 
for  doing  nothing  !  The  senator  is  for  going  home,  leaving  the 
treasury  and  the  country  in  their  lawless  condition  !  Yet  no 
man  has  heretofore,  more  than  he  has,  deplored  and  deprecated 
a  state  of  things  so  utterly  unsafe,  and  repugnant  to  all  just  pre 
cautions,  indicated  alike  by  sound  theory  and  experience  in  free 
governments.  And  the  senator  talks  to  us  about  applying  to  the 
wisdom  of  practical  men,  in  respect  to  banking,  and  advises  fur 
ther  deliberation  !  Why,  I  should  suppose  that  we  are  at  present 
in  the  very  best  situation  to  act  upon  the  subject.  Besides  the 
many  painful  years  we  have  had  for  deliberation,  we  have  been 
near  three  months  almost  exclusively  engrossed  with  the  very 
subject  itself.  We  have  heard  all  manner  of  facts,  statements, 
and  arguments  in  any  wray  connected  with  it.  We  understand, 
it  seems  to  me,  all  we  ever  can  learn  or  comprehend  about  a 
national  bank.  And  we  have,  at  least,  some  conception  too  of 
what  sort  of  one  will  be  acceptable  at  the  other  end  of  the  ave 
nue.  Ye.t-now,  with  a  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  the  entire 
country  crying  out  to  us  for  a  bank— with  the  people  throughout 
the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi  rising  in  their  majesty,  and 
demanding  it  as  indispensable  to  their  well-being,  and  pointing 
to  their  losses,  their  sacrifices,  and  their  sufferings,  for  the  want 
38 


446  IN  REJOINDER  TO  MR.  RIVES. 

of  such  an  institution — in  such  a  state  of  things,  we  are  gravely 
and  coldly  told  by  the  honorable  senator  from  Virginia,  that  we 
had  best  go  home,  leaving  the  purse  and  the  sword  in  the  un 
controlled  possession  of  the  President,  and,  above  all  things, 
never  to  make  a  party  bank !  Why  sir,  does  he,  with  all  his 
knowledge  of  the  conflicting  opinions  which  prevail  here,  and 
have  prevailed,  believe  that  we  ever  can  make  a  bank  but  by 
the  votes  of  one  party  who  are  in  favor  of  it,  in  opposition  to  the 
votes  of  another  party  against  it  ?  I  deprecate  this  expression 
of  opinion  from  that  gentleman  the  more,  because,  although  the 
honorable  senator  professes  not  to  know  the  opinions  of  the  Pre 
sident,  it  certainly  does  turn  out  in  the  sequel  that  there  is  a 
most  remarkable  coincidence  between  those  opinions  and  his 
own;  and  he  has,  on  the  present  occasion,  defended  the  motives 
and  the  course  of  the  President  with  all  the  solicitude  and  all 
the  fervent  zeal  of  a  member  of  his  Privy  Council.  There  is  a 
rumor  abroad  that  a  cabal  exists — a  new  sort  of  kitchen  cabinet 
— whose  object  is  the  dissolution  of  the  regular  cabinet — the 
dissolution  of  the  Whig  party — the  dispersion  of  Congress,  with 
out  accomplishing  any  of  the  great  purposes  of  the  extra  session 
— and  a  total  change,  in  fact,  in  the  whole  face  of  our  political 
affairs.  I  hope,  and  I  persuade  myself,  that  the  honorable  sena 
tor  is  not,  cannot  be,  one  of  the  component  members  of  such  a 
cabal ;  but  I  must  say  that  there  has  been  displayed  by  the 
honorable  senator  to-day  a  predisposition,  astonishing  and  inex 
plicable,  to  misconceive  almost  all  of  what  I  have  said,  and  a 
perseverance,  after  repeated  corrections,  in  misunderstanding — 
for  I  will  not  charge  him  with  wilfully  and  intentionally  misre 
presenting — the  whole  spirit  and  character  of  the  address  which 
as  a  man  of  honor,  and  as  a  senator,  I  felt  myself  bound  in  duty 
to  make  to  this  body. 

The  Senator  begins  with  saying  that  I  charge  the  Presidenl 
with  ': perfidy!"  Did  I  use  any  such  language?  I  appeal  to 
every  gentleman  who  heard  me  to  say  whether  I  have  in  a  sin 
gle  instance  gone  beyond  a  fair  and  legitimate  examination  of 
the  executive  objections  to  the  bill.  Yet  he  has  charged  me 
with  "  arraigning"  the  President,  with  indicting  him  in  various 
counts,  and  with  imputing  to  him  motives  such  as  I  never  even 
intimated  or  dreamed,  and  that,  when  I  was  constantly  express 
ing,  over  and  over,  my  personal  respect  and  regard  for  President 
Tyler,  for  whom  I  have  cherished  an  intimate  personal  friend 
ship  of  twenty  years'  standing,  and  while  I  expressly  said  that  if 
that  friendship  should  now  be  interrupted,  it  should  not  be  my 
fault !  Why,  sir,  what  possible,  what  conceivable  motive  can  I 
have  to  quarrel  with  the  President,  or  to  break  up  the  Whig 
party  ?  What  earthly  motive  can  impel  me  to  wish  for  any 
other  result  than  that  that  party  shall  remain  in  perfect  harmony, 
undivided,  and  shall  move  undismayed,  boldly,  and  unitedly  for 
ward  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  all-important  public  objects 
which  it  has  avowed  to  be  its  aim  ?  What  imaginable  interest 


n\  REJOINDER  TO  MR.  RIVES.  447 

or  feeling  can  I  have  other  than  the  success,  the  triumph,  the 
glory  of  the  Whig  party  ?  But  that  there  may  be  designs  and 
purposes  on  the  part  of  certain  other  individuals  to  place  me  in 
inimical  relations  with  the  President,  and  to  represent  me  as 
personally  opposed  to  him,  I  can  well  imagine — individuals  who 
are  beating  up  for  recruits,  and  endeavoring  to  form  a  third 
party  with  materials  so  scanty  as  to  be  wholly  insufficient  to 
compose  a  decent  corporal's  guard.  I  fear  there  are  such  indi 
viduals,  though  I  do  not  charge  the  senator  as  being  himself  one 
of  them.  What  a  spectacle  has  been  presented  to  this  nation 
during  this  entire  session  of  Congress  !  That  of  the  cherished 
and  confidential  friends  of  John  Tyler,  persons  who  boast  and 
claim  to  be,  par  excellence,  his  exclusive  and  genuine  friends, 
being  the  bitter,  systematic,  determined,  uncompromising  oppo 
nents  of  every  leading  measure  of  John  Tyler's  administration  ! 
Was  there  ever  before  such  an  example  presented,  in  this  or 
any  other  age,  in  this  or  any  other  country  ?  I  have  myself 
known  the  President  too  long,  and  cherish  toward  him  too  sin 
cere  a  friendship,  to  allow  my  feelings  to  be  affected  or  alienated 
by  any  thing  which  has  passed  here  to-day.  If  the  President 
chooses— which  I  am  sure  he  cannot,  unless  falsehood  has  been 
whispered  into  his  ears  or  poisoned  poured  into  his  heart — to  de 
tach  himself  from  me,  I  shall  deeply  regret  it,  for  the  sake  of  our 
common  friendship  and  our  common  country.  I  now  repeat, 
what  I  before  said,  that,  of  all  the  measures  of  relief  which  the 
American  people  have  called  upon  us  for,  that  of  a  national 
bank,  and  a  sound  and  uniform  currency  has  been  the  most 
loudly  and  importunately  demanded.  The  senator  says  that  the 
question  of  a  bank  was  not  the  issue  made  before  the  people  at 
the  late  election.  I  can  say,  for  one,  my  own  conviction  is  dia 
metrically  the  contrary.  What  may  have  been  the  character  of 
the  canvass  in  Virginia.  I  will  not  say ;  probably  gentlemen  on 
both  sides  were,  every  where,  governed  in  some  degree  by  con 
siderations  of  local  policy.  What  issues  may  therefore  have 
been  presented  to  the  people  of  Virginia,  either  above  or  below 
tide-water,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  The  great  error,  however, 
of  the  honorable  senator  is  in  thinking  that  the  sentiments  of  a 
particular  party  in  Virginia  are  always  a  fair  exponent  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  whole  Union.  I  can  tell  that  senator  that 
wherever  I  was — in  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi— in  Ken 
tucky — in  Tennessee — in  Maryland — in  all  the  circles  in  which  I 
moved — every  where,  "  Bank  or  no  Bank"  was  the  great,  the 
leading,  the  vital  question.  At  Hanover,  in  Virginia,  during  the 
last  summer,  at  one  of  the  most  remarkable,  and  respectable, 
and  gratifying  assemblages  that  I  ever  attended,  I  distinctly  an 
nounced  my  conviction  that  a  bank  of  the  United  States  was  in 
dispensable.  As  to  the  opinions  of  General  Harrison,  I  know 
that,  like  many  others,  he  had  entertained  doubts  as  to  the  con 
stitutionality  of  a  bank ;  but  I  also  know  that,  as  the  election  ap 
proached,  his  opinions  turned  more  in  favor  of  a  national  bank  j 


448  IN  REJOINDER  TO  MR.  RIVES. 

and  I  speak  from  my  own  personal  knowledge  of  his  opinions, 
when  I  say  that  I  have  no  more  doubt  he  would  have  signed 
that  bill,  than  that  you,  Mr.  President,  now  occupy  that  chair,  or 
that  I  am  addressing  you. 

I  rose  not  to  say  one  word  which  should  wound  the  feelings 
of  President  Tyler.  The  senator  says  that,  if  placed  in  like  cir 
cumstances,  I  would  have  been  the  last  man  to  avoid  putting  a 
direct  veto  upon  the  bill,  had  it  met  my  disapprobation;  and  he 
does  me  the  honor  to  attribute  to  me  high  qualities  of  stern  and 
unbending  intrepidity.  I  hope  that  in  all  that  relates  to  personal 
firmness — all  that  concerns  a  just  appreciation  of  the  insignifi 
cance  of  human  life — whatever  may  be  attempted  to  threaten  or 
alarm  a  soul  not  easily  swayed  by  opposition,  or  awed  or  intimi 
dated  by  menace — a  stout  heart  and  a  steady  eye  that  can  sur 
vey,  unmoved  and  undaunted,  any  mere  personal  perils  that  as 
sail  this  poor  transient,  perishing  frame,  I  may,  without  dispar 
agement,  compare  with  other  men.  But  there  is  a  sort  of  courage 
which,  I  frankly  confess  it,  I  do  not  possess — a  boldness  to  which 
I  dare  not  aspire,  a  valor  which  I  cannot  covet.  I  cannot  lay 
myself  down  in  the  way  of  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  my 
country.  That  I  cannot,  I  have  not  the  courage  to  do.  I  can 
not  interpose  the  power  with  which  I  may  be  invested,  a  power 
conferred  not  for  my  personal  benefit,  nor  for  my  aggrandize 
ment,  but  for  my  country's  good,  to  check  her  onward  march  to 
greatness  and  glory.  I  have  not  courage  enough,  I  am  too 
cowardly  for  that.  I  would  not,  I  dare  not,  in  the  exercise  of 
such  a  trust,  lie  down,  and  place  my  body  across  the  path  that 
leads  my  country  to  prosperity  and  happiness.  This  is  a(sort 
of  courage  widely  different  from  that  which  a  man  may  display 
in  his  private  conduct  and  personal  relations.  Personal  or  pri 
vate  courage  is  totally  distinct  from  that  higher  and  nobler 
courage  which  prompts  the  patriot  to  offer  himself  a  voluntary 
sacrifice  to  his  country's  good. 

Nor  did  I  say,  as  the  senator  represents,  that  the  President 
should  have  resigned.  I  intimated  no  personal  wish  or  desire 
that  he  should  resign.  I  referred  to  the  fact  of  a  memorable  re 
signation  in  his  public  life.  And  what  I  did  say  was,  that  there 
were  other  alternatives  before  him  besides  vetoing  the  bill ;  and 
that  it  was  worthy  of  his  consideration  whether  consistency 
did  not  require  that  the  example  which  he  had  set  when  he  had 
a  constituency  of  one  state,  should  not  be  followed  when  he  had 
a  constituency  commensurate  with  the  whole  Union.  Another 
alternative  was  to  suffer  the  bill,  without  his  signature,  to  pass 
into  a  law  under  the  provisions  of  the  constitution.  And  I  must 
confess  I  see,  in  this,  no  such  escaping  by  the  back  door  no  such 
jumping  out  of  the  window,  as  the  senator  talks  about.  Appre 
hensions  of  the  imputation  of  the  want  of  firmness  sometimes 
impel  us  to  perform  rash  and  inconsiderate  acts.  It  is  the 
greatest  courage  to  be  able  to  bear  the  imputation  of  the  want 
of  courage.  But  pride,  vanity,  egotism,  so  unamiable  and  offen- 


•.  .,         -  . 

IN  REJOINDER  TO  MR.  RIVES. 

sive  in  private  life,  are  vices  which  partake  of  the  charac 
ter  of  crimes  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  The  unfortu 
nate  victim  of  these  passions  cannot  see  beyond  the  little, 
petty,  contemptible,  circle  of  his  own  personal  interests.  All 
his  thoughts  are  withdrawn  from  his  country,  and  concentrated 
on  his  consistency,  his  firmness,  himself.  The  high,  the  exalted, 
the  sublime  emotions  of  a  patrotism,  which,  soaring  towards 
Heaven,  rises  far  above  all  mean.  low.  or  selfish  things,  and  is 
absorbed  by  one  soul-transporting  thought  of  the  good  and 
the  glory  of  one's  country,  are  never  felt  in  his  impenetrable 
bosom.  That  patriotism  which,  catching  its  inspirations  from 
the  immortal  God,  and  leaving  at  an  immeasurable  distance 
below  all  lesser,  grovelling,  personal  interests  and  feelings,  an 
imates  and  prompts  to  deeds  of  self-sacrifice,  of  valor,  ot? devo 
tion,  and  of  death  itseli— that  is  public  virtue— that  is  the  noblest, 
the  sublimest  of  al!  public  virtues  ! 

I  said  nothing  of  any  obligation  on  the  part  of  the  President 
to  conform  his  judgment  to  the  opinions  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  although  the  senator  argued  as  if  I 
had,  and  persevered  in  so  arguing,  after  repeated  ^corrections. 
I  said  no  such  thing.  I  know  and  Respect  the  perfect  indepen 
dence  of  each  department,  acting  within  its  proper  sphere,  of 
other  departments.  But  I  referred  to  the  majorities  in  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress  as  further  and  strong  evidence  of  the  opinion 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  favor  of  the  establishment 
of  a  bank  of  the  United  States.  And  I  contended  that,  according 
to  the  doctrine  of  instructions  which  prevailed  in  Virginia,  and 
of  which  the  President  is  a  disciple,  and,  in  pursuance  of  the  ex 
ample  already  cited,  he  ought  not  to  have  rejected  the  bill. 

I  have  heard  that,  on  his  arrival  at  the  seat  of  the  general 
government,  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  the  office  of  Vice-Presi- 
dent  in  March  last,  when  interrogated  how  far  he  meant  to  con 
form,  in  his  new  station,  to  certain  peculiar  opinions  which  were 
held  in  Virginia,  he  made  this  patriotic  and  noble  reply:  "I  am 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  and  not  of  the  state  of  Vir 
ginia  ;  and  I  shall  be  governed  by  the  wishes  and  opinions  of 
my  constituents."  When  I  heard  of  this  encouraging  and  satis 
factory  reply,  believing,  as  I  most  religiously  do,  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  in  favor  of°a 
national  bank,  (and  "gentlemen  may  shut  their  eyes  to  the  fact, 
deny  or  dispute,  or  reason  it  away  as  they  please,  but  it  is  my 
conscientious  conviction  that  two-thirds,  if  not  more,  of  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  Statee  desire  such  an  institution.)  I  thought  I 
beheld  a  sure  and  certain  guaranty  for  the  fulfilment  of  the 
wishes  of  the  people"bf  the  United  States.  I  thought  it  impos 
sible  that  the  wants  and- wishes  of  a  great  people,  who  had  be 
stowed  such  unbounded  and  generous  confidence,  and  conferred 
on  him  such  exalted  honors,  should  be  disregarded  and  disap 
pointed.  It  did  not  enter  into  my  imagination  to  conceive  that 
38* 

-"  ••  ;'      -1  '••     '•*•'"•  l-t* 


•*.  "•>      '     •.*''  •""'.•  »'     •>*  '"•         *     •        »V  )    ;       '    .>   '.'A 

•/'        ' '"•  '     '"•    '•"     '.  ^  •*•.»,/"  i;  v  ,-v    •'»  •'  •    .--A*  »'     *  ;  *.' l"' 

450  IN  REJOINDER  TO  MR.  RIVES. 

one,  who  had  shown  so  much  deference  and  respect  to  the  pre 
sumed  sentiments  of  a  single  state,  should  display  less  towards 
the  sentiments  of  the  whole  nation. 

I  hope,  Mr.  President,  that,  in  performing  the  painful  duty 
which  had  devolved  on  me,  I  have  not  transcended  the  limits  of 
legitimate  debate.  I  repeat,  in  all  truth  and  sincerity,  the  assu 
rance  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  country,  that  nothing  but  a  stern, 
reluctant,  and  indispensable  sense  of  honor  and  of  duty  could 
have  forced  from  me  the  response  which  I  have  made  to  the 
President's  objections.  But,  instead  of  yielding  without  restraint 
to  the  feelings  of  disappointment  and  mortification  excited  by 
the  perusal  of  his  message,  I  have  anxiously  endeavored  to 
temper  the  notice  of  it,  which  I  have  been  compelled  to  take,  by 
the  respect  due  to  the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate,  and  by  the 
personal  regard  and  esteem  which  I  have  ever  entertained  for 
its  present  incumbent. 


•  •  x    \ 


APPENDII, 


ON  THE  COLONIZATION  OF  THE  NEGROES.  *j 

Speech  before  the  American  Colonization  Society,  in  the  hall  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  Jan.  20,  1827. 

Mr.  Clay  rose.  I  cannot  (said  he)  withhold  the  expression  of 
my  congratulations  to  the  society  on  account  of  the  very  valuable 
acquisition  which  we  have  obtained  in  the  eloquent  gentleman 
from  Boston,  (Mr.  Knapp,)  who  has  just  before  favored  us  with 
an  address.  He  has  told  us  of  his  original  impressions,  unfavor 
able  to  the  object  of  the  society,  and  of  his  subsequent  conver 
sion.  If  the  same  industry,  investigation  and  unbiassed  judg 
ment,  which  he  and  another  gentleman.  (Mr.  Powell)  who  avowed 
at  the  last  meeting  of  the  society,  a  similar  change  wrought  in 
his  mind,  were  carried,  by  the  public  at  large,  into  the  considera 
tion  of  the  plan  of  the  society,  the  conviction  of  its  utility  would 
be  universal. 

I  have  risen  to  submit  a  resolution,  in  behalf  of  which  I  would 
bespeak  the  favor  of  the  society.  But  before  I  offer  any  obser 
vations  in  its  support,  I  must  say  that,  whatever  part  I  shall  take 
in  the  proceedings  of  this  society,  whatever  opinions  or  senti 
ments  I  may  utter,  they  are  exclusively  my  own.  Whether  they 
are  worth  any  thing  or  not,  no  one  but  myself  is  at  all  responsi 
ble  for  them.  I  have  consulted  with  no  person  out  of  this  society; 
and  I  have  especially  abstained  from  all  communication  or  con 
sultation  with  any  one  to  whom  I  stand  in  any  official  relation. 
My  judgment  on  the  object  of  this  society  has  been  long  since 
deliberately  formed.  The  conclusions  to  which,  after  much  and 
anxious  consideration,  my  mind  has  been  brought,  have  been 
neither  produced  nor  refuted  by  the  official  station  the  duties  of 
which  have  been  confided  to  me. 

From  the  origin  of  this  society,  every  member  of  it  has,  1  be- 
lieve,  looked  forward  to  the,  arrival  of  a  period,  when  it  would 
become  necessary  to  invoke  the  public  aid  in  the  execution  of 
the  great  scheme  which  it  was  instituted  to  promote.  Consider 
ing  itself  as  the  mere  pioneer  in  the  cause  which  it  had  underta 
ken,  it  was  well  aware  that  it  could  do  no  more  than  remove 
preliminary  difficulties  and  point  out  a  sure  road  to  ultimate  suc 
cess  ;  and  that  the  public  only  could  supply  that  regular,  steady, 
and  efficient  support,  to  which  the  gratuitous  means  of  benevo 
lent  individuals  would  be  found  incompetent.  My  surprise  has 


452  ON  THE  COLONIZATION 

been  that  the  society  has  been  able  so  long  to  sustain  itself,  and 
to  do  so  much  upon  the  charitable  contributions  of  good  and  pi 
ous  and  enlightened  men,  whom  it  has  happily  found  in  all  parts 
of  our  country.    But  our  work  has  so  prospered,  and  grown  un 
der  our  hands,  that  the  appeal  to  the  power  and  resources  of  the 
Eublic  should  be  no  longer  deferred.     The  resolution  which  I 
ave  risen  to  propose  contemplates  this  appeal.     It  is  in  the  fol 
lowing  words : — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  board  of  managers  be  empowered  and 
directed,  at  such  time  or  times  as  may  seem  to  them  expedient, 
to  make  respectful  application  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  the  legislatures  of  the  different  states,  for  such  pe 
cuniary  aid,  in  furtherance  of  the  object  of  this  society,  as  they 
may  respectively  be  pleased  to  grant." 

In  soliciting  the  countenance  and  support  of  the  legislatures  of 
the  Union  and  the  states,  it  is  incumbent  on  the  society,  in  ma 
king  out  its  case,  to  show,  first — -that  it  offers  to  their  considera 
tion  a  scheme  which  is  practicable — and  second — that  the  execu 
tion  of  the  practicable  scheme,  partial  or  entire,  will  be  fraught 
with  such  beneficial  consequences  as  to  merit  the  support  which 
is  solicited.  I  believe  both  points  to  be  maintainable.  First. — 
It  is  now  a  little  upwards  of  ten  years  since  a  religious,  amiable 
and  benevolent  resident*  of  this  city  first  conceived  the  idea  of 
planting  a  colony,  from  the  United  States,  of  free  people  of  color, 
on  the  western  shores  of  Africa.  He  is  no  more,  and  the  noblest 
eulogy  which  could  be  pronounced  on  him  would  be  to  inscribe 
upon  his  tomb,  the  merited  epitaph — "Here  lies  the  projector  of 
the  American  Colonization  Society."  Amongst  others,  to  whom 
he  communicated  the  project,  was  the  person  who  now  has  the 
honor  of  addressing  you.  My  first  impressions,  like  those  of  all 
who  have  not  fully  investigated  the  subject,  were  against  it. — 
They  yielded  to  his  earnest  persuasions  and  my  own  reflections, 
and  I  finally  agreed  with  him  that  the  experiment  was  worthy 
of  a  fair  trial.  A  meeting  of  its  friends  was  called — organized 
as  a  deliberative  body,  and  a  constitution  was  formed.  The  so 
ciety  went  into  operation.  He  lived  to  see  the  most  encouraging 
progress  in  its  exertions,  and  died  in  full  confidence  of  its  com 
plete  success.  The  society  was  scarcely  formed  before  it  wae 
exposed  to  the  derision  of  the  unthinking ;  pronounced  to  be  vis 
ionary  and  chimerical  by  those  who  were  capable  of  adopting 
wiser  opinions,  and  the  most  confident  predictions  of  its  entire 
failure  were  put  forth.  It  found .  itself  equally  assailed  by  the 
two  extremes  of  public  sentiment  in  regard  to  our  African  popu- 

*  It  has  been,  since  the  delivery  of  the  speech,  sussjested  that  the  Eev.  Robert  Fin- 
ley,  of  New  Jersey,  (who  is  also  unfortunately  dead,)  contemplated  the  formation  of  a 
society,  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  colony  in  Africa,  and  probably  first 
commenced  the  project.  It  is  quite  likely  that  he  did  ;  and  Mr.  Clay  recollects  see- 
in?  Mr.  Finley,  and  consulting  with  him  on  the  subject,  about  the  period  of  the  for 
mation  of  the  society.  But  the  allusion  to  Mr.  Caldwell  was  founded  on  the  facts 
well  known  to  Mr.  Clay,  of  his  active  arency  in  the  organization  of  the  society,  and 
his  unremitted  subsequent  labors,  which  were  not  confined  to  the  District  of  Co- 
luittbia  in  promoting  ;he  cause 


OP  THE  NEGROES.  453 

iation.  According  to  one,  (that  rash  class  which,  without  a  due 
estimate  of  the  fatal  consequence,  would  forthwith  issue  a  de 
cree  of  general,  immediate,  and  indiscriminate  emancipation,)  it 
was  a  scheme  of  the  slave  holder  to  perpetuate  slavery.  The 
other  (that  class  which  believes  slavery  a  blessing,  and  which 
trembles  with  aspen  sensibility  at  the  appearance  of  the  most 
distant  and  ideal  danger  to  the  tenure  by  which  that  description 
of  property  is  held.)  declared  it  a  contrivance  to  let  loose  on  so 
ciety  all  the  slaves  of  the  country,  ignorant,  uneducated,  and  in 
capable  of  appreciating  the  value,  or  enjoying  the  privileges  of 
freedom.*  The  society  saw  itself  surrounded  by  every  sort  of 
embarrassment.  What  great  human  enterprise  was  ever  under 
taken  without  difficulty  ?  What  ever  failed,  within  the  compass 
of  human  power,  when  pursued  with  perseverance  and  blessed 
by  the  smiles  of  Providence  ?  The  society  prosecuted  undismayed 
its  great  work,  appealing  for  succor  to  the  moderate,  the  reason 
able,  the  virtuous,  and  religious  portions  of  the  public.  It  pro 
tested,  from  the  commencement,  and  throughout  all  its  progress, 
and  it  now  protests,  that  it  entertains  no  purpose,  on  its  own  au 
thority  or  by  its  own  means,  to  attempt  emancipation  partial  or 
general ;  that  it  knows  the  general  government  has  no  constitu 
tional  power  to  achieve  such  an  object;  that  it  believes  that  the 
states,  and  the  states  only,  which  tolerate  slavery,  can  accom 
plish  the  work  of  emancipation ;  and  that  it  ought  to  be  left  to 
them,  exclusively,  absolutely,  and  voluntarily,  to  decide  the  ques 
tion. 

The  object  of  the  society  was  the  colonization  of  the  free  co 
lored  people,  not  the  slaves,  of  the  country.  Voluntary  in  its  in 
stitution,  voluntary  in  its  continuance,  voluntary  in  all  its  ramifi 
cations,  all  its  means,  purposes,  and  instruments  are  also  volun 
tary.  But  it  was  said  that  no  free  colored  persons  could  be 
prevailed  upon  to  abandon  the  comforts  of  civilized  life,  and  ex 
pose  themselves  to  all  the  perils  of  a  settlement  in  a  distant,  in 
hospitable  and  savage  country ;  that,  if  they  could  be  induced  to 
go  on  such  a  quixotic  expedition,  no  territory  could  be  procured 
for  their  establishment  as  a  colony ;  that  the  plan  was  altogether 
incompetent  to  effectuate  its  professed  object;  and  that  it  ought 
to  be  rejected  as  the  idle  dream  of  visionary  enthusiasts.  The 
society  has  outlived,  thank  God,  all  these  disastrous  predictions. 
It  has  survived  to  swell  the  list  of  false  prophets.  It  is  no  longer 
a  question  of  speculation  whether  a  colony  can  or  cannot  be 
planted  from  the  United  States  of  free  persons  of  color  on  the 
shores  of  Africa.  It  is  a  matter  demonstrated ;  such  a  colony, 
in  fact,  exists,  prospers,  has  made  successful  war,  and  honorable 
peace,  and  transacts  all  the  multiplied  business  of  a  civilized  and 
Christian  community.  It  now  has  about  five  hundred  souls,  dis 
ciplined  troops,  forts,  and  other  means  of  defence,  sovereignty 

*  A  society  of  a  few  individuals,  without  power,  without  other  resources  than  those 
which  are  supplied  by  spontaneous  benevolence,  to  emancipate  all  the  slaves  of  the 


454  ON  THE  COLONIZATION 

over  an  extensive  territory,  and  exerts  a  powerful  and  salutary 
influence  over  the  neighboring  clans. 

Numbers  of  the  free  African  race  among  us  are  willing  to  go 
to  Africa.  The  society  has  never  experienced  any  difficulty  on 
that  subject,  except  that  its  means  of  comfortable  transportation 
have  been  inadequate  to  accommodate  all  who  have  been  anx 
ious  to  migrate.  Why  should  they  not  go?  Here  they  are  in 
the  lowest  state  of  social  gradation — aliens — political — moral — 
social  aliens,  strangers,  though  natives.  There,  they  would  be 
in  the  midst  of  their  friends  and  their  kindred,  at  home,  though 
born  in  a  foreign  land,  and  elevated  above  the  natives  of  the 
country,  as  much  as  they  are  degraded  here  below  the  other 
classes,  of  the  communify.  But  on  this  matter,  I  am  happy  to 
have  it  in  my  power  to  furnish  indisputable  evidence  from  the 
most  authentic  source,  that  of  large  numbers  of  free  persons  of 
color  themselves.  Numerous  meetings  have  been  held  in  seve 
ral  churches  in  Baltimore,  of  the  free  people  of  color,  in  which, 
after  being  organised  as  deliberative  assemblies,  by  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  chairman  (if  not  of  the  same  complexion)  presiding  as 
you,  Mr.  Vice-President,  do,  and  secretaries,  they  have  voted 
memorials  addressed  to  the  white  people,  in  which  they  have 
argued  the  question  with  an  ability,  moderation,  and  temper, 
surpassing  any  that  I  can  command,  and  emphatically  recom 
mended  the  colony  of  Liberia  to  favorable  consideration,  as  the 
most  desirable  and  practicable  scheme  ever  yet  presented  on  this 
interesting  subject.  I  ask  permission  of  the  society  to  read  this 
highly  creditable  document. 

[Here  Mr.  Clay  read  the  memorial  referred  to.] 

The  society  has  experienced  no  difficulty  in  the  acquisition  of 
a  territory,  upon  reasonable  terms,  abundantly  sufficient  for  a 
most  extensive  colony.  And  land  in  ample  quantities,  it  has  as 
certained,  can  be  procured  in  Africa,  together  with  all  rights  of 
sovereignty,  upon  conditions  as  favorable  as  those  on  which  the 
United  States  extinguish  the  Indian  title  to  territory  within  their 
own  limits. 

In  respect  to  the  alledged  incompetency  of  the  scheme  to  ac 
complish  its  professed  object,  the  society  asks  that  that  object 
should  be  taken  to  be,  not  what  the  imaginations  of  its  enemies 
represent  it  to  be,  but  what  it  really  proposes.  They  represent 
that  the  purpose  of  the  society  is  to  export  the  whole  African 
population  of  the  United  States,  bond  and  free  ;  and  they  pro 
nounce  this  design  to  be  unattainable.  They  declare  that  the 
means  of  the  whole  country  are  insufficient  to  effect  the  trans 
portation  to  Africa  of  a  mass  of  population  approximating  to 
two  millions  of  souls.  Agreed  j  but  that  is  not  what  the  society 
contemplates.  They  have  substituted  their  own  notion  for  that 
of  the  society.  What  is  the  true  nature  of  the  evil  of  the  exist 
ence  of  a  portion  of  the  African  race  in  our  population  ?  It  is 
jiot  that  there  are  some,  but  that  there  are  so  many  among  us  of 
a  different  caste,  of  a  different  physical,  if  not  moral,  constitu- 


OP  THE  NEGROES.  455 

tion,  who  never  can  amalgamate  with  the  great  body  of  our 
population.  In  every  country,  persons  are  to  be  found  varying 
in  their  color,  origin,  and  character,  from  the  native  mass.  But 
this  anomaly  creates  no  inquietude  or  apprehension,  because  the 
exotics,  from  the  smallness  of  their  number,  are  known  to  be 
utterly  incapable  of  disturbing  the  general  tranquillity.  Here, 
on  the  contrary,  the  African  part  of  our  population  bears  so  large 
a  proportion  to  the  residue,  of  European  origin,  as  to  create  the 
most  lively  apprehension,  especially  in  some  quarters  of  the 
Union.  Any  project,  therefore,  by  which,  in  a  material  degree, 
the  dangerous  element  in  the  general  mass  can  be  diminished 
or  rendered  stationary,  deserves  deliberate  consideration. 

The  colonization  society  has  never  imagined  it  to  be  practi 
cable,  or  within  the  reach  of  any  means  which  the  several  govern 
ments  of  the  Union  could  bring  to  bear  on  the  subject,  to  trans 
port  the  whole  of  the  African  race  within  the  limits  of  the  United 
States.  Nor  is  that  necessary  to  accomplish  the  desirable  ob 
jects  of  domestic  tranquillity,  and  render  us  one  homogeneous 
people.  The  population  of  the  United  States  has  been  supposed 
to  duplicate  in  periods  of  twenty-five  years.  That  may  have 
been  the  case  heretofore,  but  the  terms  of  duplication  will  be 
more  and  more  protracted  as  we  advance  in  national  age ;  and 
I  do  not  believe,  that  it  will  be  found,  in  any  period  to  come, 
that  our  numbers  will  be  doubled  in  a  less  term  than  one  of  about 
thirty-three  and  a  third  years.  I  have  not  time  to  enter  now 
into  details  in  support  of  this  opinion.  They  would  consist  of 
those  checks  which  experience  has  shown  to  obstruct  the  pro 
gress  of  population,  arising  out  of  its  actual  augmentation  and 
density,  the  settlement  of  waste  lands,  &c.  Assuming  the  period 
of  thirty-three  and  a  third,  or  any  other  number  of  years,  to  be 
that  in  which  our  population  will  hereafter  be  doubled,  if,  during 
that  whole  term,  the  capital  of  the  African  stock  could  be  kept 
down,  or  stationary,  whilst  that  of  European  origin  should  be 
left  to  an  unobstructed  increase,  the  result,  at  the  end  of  the 
term,  would  be  most  propitious.  Let  us  suppose,  for  example, 
that  the  whole  population  at  present  of  the  United  States, 
is  twelve  millions,  of  which  ten  may  be  estimated  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  and  two  of  the  African  race.  If  there  could  be  annu 
ally  transported  from  the  United  States  an  amount  of  the  Afri 
can  portion  equal  to  the  annual  increase  of  the  whole  of  that 
caste,  whilst  the  European  race  should  be  left  to  multiply,  we 
should  find  at  the  termination  of  the  period  of  duplication,  what 
ever  it  may  be,  that  the  relative  proportions  would  be  as  twenty 
to  two.  And  if  the  process  were  continued,  during  a  second 
term  of  duplication,  the  proportion  would  be  as  forty  to  two — 
one  which  would  eradicate  every  cause  of  alarm  or  solicitude 
from  the  breasts  of  the  most  timid.  But  the  transportation  of 
Africans,  by  creating,  to  the  extent  to  which  it  might  be  carried, 
a  vacuum  in  society,  would  tend  to  accelerate  the  duplication  of 


456  ON  THE  COLONIZATION 

the  European  race,  who,  by  all  the  laws  of  population,  would  fill 
up  the  void  space. 

This  society  is  well  aware,  I  repeat,  that  they  cannot  touch  the 
subject  of  slavery.  But  it  is  no  objection  to  their  scheme,  limited 
as  it  is  exclusively  to  those  free  people  of  color  who  are  willing 
to  migrate,  that  it  admits  of  indefinite  extension  and  application, 
by  those,  who  alone,  having  the  competent  authority,  may  choose 
to  adopt  and  apply  it.  Our  object  has  been  to  point  out  the  way, 
to  show  that  colonization  is  practicable,  and  to  leave  it  to  those 
states  or  individuals,  who  may  be  pleased  to  engage  in  the  ob 
ject,  to  prosecute  it.  We  have  demonstrated  that  a  colony  may 
be  planted  in  Africa,  by  the  fact  that  an  American  colony  there 
exists.  The  problem  which  has  so  long  and  so  deeply  interested 
the  thoughts  of  good  and  patriotic  men,  is  solved.  A  country 
and  a  home  have  been  found,  to  which  the  African  race  may  be 
sent  to  the  promotion  of  their  happiness  and  our  own. 

But,  Mr.  Vice-President,  I  shall  not  rest  contented  with  the 
fact  of  the  establishment  of  the  colony,  conclusive  as  it  ought  to 
be  deemed,  of  the  practicability  of  our  purpose.  I  shall  proceed 
to  show,  by  reference  to  indisputable  statistical  details  and  cal 
culations,  that  it  is  within  the  compass  of  reasonable  human 
means.  I  am  sensible  of  the  tediousness  of  all  arithmetical  data, 
but  I  will  endeavor  to  simplify  them  as  much  as  possible.  It 
will  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  aim  of  the  society  is  to  establish 
in  Africa  a  colony  of  the  free  African  population  of  the  United 
States  ;  to  an  extent  which  shall  be  beneficial  both  to  Africa  and 
America.  The  whole  free  colored  population  of  the  United 
States  amounted  in  1790,  to  fifty-nine  thousand  four  hundred 
and  eighty-one ;  in  1800,  to  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  and 
seventy-two;  in  1810,  to  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand  four 
hundred  and  forty-six  j  and  in  1820,  to  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty.  The  ratio  of  annual 
increase  during  the  first  term  of  ten  years,  was  about  eight  and 
a  half  per  cent,  per  annum ;  during  the  second  about  seven 
per  cent  per  annum  ;  and  during  the  third,  a  little  more  than 
two  and  a  half.  The  very  great  difference  in  the  rate  of 
annual  increase,  during  those  several  terms,  may  probably  be 
accounted  for  by  the  effect  of  the  number  of  voluntary  emanci 
pations  operating  with  more  influence  upon  the  total  smaller 
amount  of  free  colored  persons  at  the  first  of  those  periods,  and 
by  the  facts  of  the  insurrection  in  St.  Domingo,  and  the  acqui 
sition  of  Louisiana,  both  of  which,  occurring  during  the  first  and 
second  terms,  added  considerably  to  the  number  of  our  free 
colored  population. 

Of  all  descriptions  of  our  population,  that  of  the  free  colored, 
taken  in  the  aggregate,  is  the  least  prolific,  because  of  the  checks 
arising  from  vice  and  want.  During  the  ten  years,  between 
1810  and  1820,  when  no  extraneous  causes  existed  to  prevent  a 
fair  competition  in  the  increase  between  the  slave  and  the  free 
African  race,  the  former  increased  at  the  rate  of  nearly  three 


OP  THE  NEGROES.  457 

per  cent,  per  annum,  whilst  the  latter  did  not  much  exceed  two 
and  a  half.  Hereafter  it  may  be  safely  assumed,  and  I  venture 
to  predict  will  not  be  contradicted  by  the  return  of  the  next  cen 
sus,  that  the  increase  of  the  free  black  population  will  not  sur 
pass  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  per  annum.  Their  amount  at  the 
last  census,  being  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  thousand  five 
hundred  and  thirty,  for  the  sake  of  round  numbers,  their  annual  in 
crease  may  be  assumed  to  be  six  thousand  at  the  present  time. 
Now  if  this  number  could  be  annually  transported  from  the 
United  States  during  a  term  of  years,  it  is  evident  that,  at  the 
end  of  that  term,  the  parent  capital  will  not  have  increased,  but 
will  have  been  kept  down,  at  least  to  what  it  was  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  term.  Is  it  practicable,  then,  to  colonize  an 
nually  six  thousand  persons  from  the  United  States,  without  ma 
terially  impairing  or  affecting  any  of  the  great  interests  of  the 
United  Slates?  This  is  the  question  presented  to  the  judgments 
of  the  legislative  authorities  of  our  country.  This  is  the° whole 
scheme  of  the  society.  From  its  actual  experience,  derived  from 
the  expenses  which  have  been  incurred  in  transporting  the  per 
sons  already  sent  to  Africa,  the  entire  average  expense  of  each 
colonist,  young  and  old,  including  passage  money  and  sub 
sistence,  may  be  stated  at  twenty  dollars  per  head.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  it  may  be  reduced  considerably  below  that 
sum.  Estimating  that  to  be  the  expense,  the  total  cost  of  trans 
porting  six  thousand  souls,  annually  to  Africa,  would  be  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  tonnage  requisite 
to  effect  the  object,  calculating  two  persons  to  every  five  tons 
(which  is  the  provision  of  existing  law)  would  be  fifteen  thousand 
tons.  But,  as  each  vessel  could  probably  make  two  voyages  in 
the  year,  it  may  be  reduced  to  seven  thousand  five  hundred. 
And  as  both  our  mercantile  and  military  marine  might  be  occa 
sionally  employed  on  this  collateral  service,  without  injury  to 
the  main  object  of  the  voyage,  a  further  abatement  might  be 
safely  made  in  the  aggregate  amount  of  the  necessary  tonnage. 


incidentally  employed 
same  end. 

Is  the  annual  expenditure  of  a  sum  no  larger  than  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  annual  employment  of  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  tons  of  shipping,  too  much  for  reason 
able  exertion,  considering  the  magnitude  of  the  object  in  view? 
Are  they  not,  on  the  contrary,  within  the  compass  of  moderate 
efforts  ? 

Here  is  the  whole  scheme  of  the  society— a  project  which  has 
been  pronounced  visionary  by  those  who  have  never  given  them 
selves  the  trouble  to  examine  it,  but  to  which  I  believe  most  un 
biassed  men  will  yield  their  cordial  assent,  after  they  have  in 
vestigated  it. 
39 


458  ON  THE  COLONIZATION 

Limited  as  the  project  is,  by  the  society,  to  a  colony  to  be 
formed  by  the  free  and  unconstrained  consent  offree  persons  of 
color,  it  is  no  objection,  but  on  the  contrary,  a  great  recom 
mendation  of  the  plan,  that  it  admits  of  being  taken  up  and  ap 
plied  on  a  scale  of  much  more  comprehensive  utility.  The  so 
ciety  knows,  and  it  affords  just  cause  of  felicitation,  that  all  or 
any  one  of  the  states  which  tolerate  slavery,  may  carry  the 
scheme  of  colonization  into  effect,  in  regard  to  the  slaves  within 
their  respective  limits,  and  thus  ultimately  rid  themselves  of  an 
universally  acknowledged  curse.  A  reference  to  the  results  of 
the  several  enumerations  of  the  population  of  the  United  States 
will  incontestably  prove  the  practicability  of  its  application  on 
the  more  extensive  scale.  The  slave  population  of  the  United 
States  amounted  in  1790,  to  six  hundred  and  ninety-seven  thou 
sand,  six  hundred  and  ninety-seven ;  in  1800.  to  eight  hundred 
and  ninety-six  thousand,  eight  hundred  and  forty-nine  ;  in  1810, 
to  eleven  hundred  and  ninety-one  thousand,  three  hundred  and 
sixty-four;  and  in  1820,  to  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty-eight  thou 
sand,  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  The  rate  of  annual  in 
crease,  (rejecting  fractions,  and  taking  the  integer  to  which  they 
make  the  nearest  approach,)  during  the  first  term  often  years, 
was  not  quite  three  per  centum  per  annum,  during  the  second, 
a  little  more  than  three  per  centum  per  annum,  and  during  the 
third,  a  little  less  than  three  per  centum.  The  mean  ratio  of- in 
crease  for  the  whole  period  of  thirty  years  was  very  little  more 
than  three  per  centum  per  annum.  During  the  first  two  periods, 
the  native  stock  was  augmented  by  importations  from  Africa,  in 
those  states  which  continued  to  tolerate  them,  and  by  the  acqui 
sition  of  Louisiana.  Virginia,  to  her  eternal  honor,  abolished 
the  abominable  traffic  among  the  earliest  acts  of  her  self-govern 
ment.  The  last  term  alone  presents  the  natural  increase  of  the 
capital  unaffected  by  any  extraneous  causes.  That  authorizes, 
as  a  safe  assumption,  that  the  future  increase  will  not  exceed 
three  per  centum  per  annum.  As  our  population  increases,  the 
value  of  slave  labor  \vill  diminish,  in  consequence  of  the  supe 
rior  advantages  in  the  employment  of  free  labor.  And  when 
the  value  of  slave  labor  shall"  be  materially  lessened,  either  by 
the  multiplication  of  the  supply  of  slaves  beyond  the  demand,  or 
by  the  competition  between  slave  and  free  labor,  the  annual  in 
crease  of  slaves  will  be  reduced,  in  consequence  of  the  abate 
ment  of  the  motives  to  provide  for  and  rear  the  offspring. 

Assuming  the  future  increase  to  be  at  the  rate  of  three  per 
centum  per  annum,  the  annual  addition  to  the  number  of  slaves 
in  the  United  States,  calculated  upon  the  return  of  the  last  cen 
sus  (one  million  five  hundred  and  thirty-eight  thousand,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-eight)  is  forty-six  thousand.  Applying  the 
data  which  have  been  already  stated  and  explained,  in  relation 
to  the  colonization  offree  persons  of  color  from  the  United  States 
to  Africa,  to  the  aggregate  annual  increase,  both  bond  and  free, 
of  the  African  race,  and  the  result  will  be  found  most  encourag- 


OF  THE  NEGROES.  459 

iTig.  The  total  number  of  the  annual  increase  of  both  descrip 
tions  is  fifty-two  thousand.  The  total  expense  of  transporting 
that  number  to  Africa,  supposing  no  reduction  of  present  prices^ 
would  be  one  million  and  forty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  requi 
site  amount  of  tonnage  would  be  only  one  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  tons  of  shipping,  about  one-ninth  part  of  the  mercan 
tile  marine  of  the  United  States.  Upon  the  supposition  of  a 
vessel's  making  two  voyages  in  the  year,  it  would  be  reduced  to 
one  half,  sixty-five  thousand.  And  this  quantity  would  be  still 
farther  reduced,  by  embracing  opportunities  of  incidental  em 
ployment  of  vessels  belonging  both  to  the  mercantile  and  mili 
tary  marines. 

But,  is  the  annual  application  of  one  million  and  forty  thou 
sand  dollars,  and  the  employment  of  sixty-five  or  even  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty  thousand  tons  of  shipping,  considering  the  mag 
nitude  of  the  object,  beyond  the  ability  of  this  country?  Is  there 
a  patriot,  looking  forward  to  its  domestic  quiet,  its  happiness, 
and  its  glory,  that  would  not  cheerfully  contribute  his  proportion 
of  the  burden  to  accomplish  a  purpose  so  great  and  so  humane? 
During  the  general  continuance  of  the  African  slave  trade,  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  slaves  have  been,  in  a  single  year,  import 
ed  into  the  several  countries  whose  laws  authorized  their  admis 
sion.  Notwithstanding  the  vigilance  of  the  powers  now  engaged 
to  suppress  the  slave  trade,  I  have  received  information,  that 
in  a  single  year,  in  the  single  island  of  Cuba,  slaves  equal  in 
amount  to  one  half  of  the  above  number  of  fifty-two  thousand, 
have  been  illicitly  introduced.  Is  it  possible  that  those  Avho  are 
concerned  in  an  infamous  traffic  can  effect  more  than  the  states 
of  this  Union, if  they  were  seriously  to  engage  in  the  good  work? 
Is  it  credible — is  it  not  a  libel  upon  human  nature  to  suppose, 
that  the  triumphs  of  fraud  and  violence  and  iniquity,  can  surpass 
those  of  virtue,  and  benevolence,  and  humanity  ? 

The  population  of  the  United  States  being,  at  this  time, 
estimated  at  about  ten  millions  of  the  European  race,  and  two 
of  the  African,  on  the  supposition  of  the  annual  colonization  of  a 
number  of  the  latter  equal  to  the  annual  increase,  of  bath  of  its 
classes,  during  the  whole  period  necessary  to  the  process  of 
duplication  of  our  numbers,  they  would,  at  the  end  of  that  period, 
relatively  ^stand  twenty  millions  for  the  white,  and  two  for  the 
black  portion.  But  an  annual  exportation  of  a  number  equal  to 
the  annual  increase,  at  the  beginning  of  the  term,  and  perse 
vered  in  to  the  end  of  it,  would  accomplish  more  than  to  keep 
the  parent  stock  stationary.  The  colonists  would  comprehend 
more  than  an  equal  proportion  of  those  of  the  prolific  ages.  Few 
of  those  who  had  passed  that  age  would  migrate.  So  that  the 
annual  increase  of  those  left  behind,  would  continue  gradually, 
but,  at  first,  insensibly,  to  diminish ;  and  by  the  expiration  of  the 
period  of  duplication,  it  would  be  found  to  have  materially  abat 
ed.  But  it  is  not  merely  the  greater  relative  safety  and  happi 
ness  which  would,  at  the  termination  of  that  period,  be  the  con- 


460  ON  THE  COLONIZATION 

dition  of  the  whites.  Their  ability  to  give  further  stimulus  to 
the  cause  of  colonization  will  have  been  doubled,  whilst  the  sub 
jects  on  which  it  would  have  to  operate,  will  have  decreased  or 
remained  stationary.  If  the  business  of  colonization  should  be 
regularly  continued  during  two  periods  of  duplication,  at  the  end 
of  the  second,  the  whites  would  stand  to  the  blacks,  as  forty 
millions  to  not  more  than  two,  whilst  the  same  ability  will  have 
been  quadrupled.  Even  if  colonization  should  then  altogether 
cease,  the  proportion  of  the  African  to  the  European  race  will 
be  so  small  that  the  most  timid  may  then,  for  ever,  dismiss  all 
ideas  of  danger  from  within  or  without,  on  account  of  that  in 
congruous  and  perilous  element  in  our  population. 

Further  j  by  the  annual  withdrawal  of  fifty-two  thousand  per 
sons  of  color,  there  would  be  annual  space  created  for  an  equal 
number  of  the  white  race.  The  period,  therefore,  of  the  dupli 
cation  of  the  whites,  by  the  laws  which  govern  population, 
would  be  accelerated. 

Such,  Mr.  Vice-President,  is  the  project  of  the  society ;  and 
such  is  the  extension  and  use  which  may  be  made  of  the  principle 
of  colonization,  in  application  to  our  slave  population,  by  those 
states  which  are  alone  competent  to  undertake  and  execute  it. 
All,  or  any  one,  of  the  states  which  tolerate  slavery  may  adopt 
and  execute  it,  by  co-operation  or  separate  exertion.  If  I  could 
be  instrumental  in  eradicating  this  deepest  stain  upon  the  char 
acter  of  our  country,  and  removing  all  cause  of  reproach  on  ac 
count  of  it,  by  foreign  nations — If  I  could  only  be  instrumental 
in  ridding  of  this  foul  blot  that  revered  state  that  gave  me  birth, 
or  that  not  less  beloved  state  which  kindly  adopted  me  as  her 
son,  I  would  not  exchange  the  proud  satisfaction  which  I  should 
enjoy  for  the  honor  of  all  the  triumphs  ever  decreed  to  the  most 
successful  conqueror. 

Having,  I  hope,  shown  that  the  plan  of  the  society  is  not  vis 
ionary,  but  rational  and  practicable ;  that  a  colony  does  in  fact 
exist,  planted  under  its  auspices ;  that  free  people  are  willing 
and  anxious  to  go ;  and.  that  the  right  of  soil  as  well  as  of  sove 
reignty  may  be  acquired  in  vast  tracts  of  country  in  Africa, 
abundantly  sufficient  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  most  ample 
colony,  and  at  prices  almost  only  nominal,  the  task  which  re 
mains  tome  of  showing  the  beneficial  consequences  which  would 
attend  the  execution  of  the  scheme,  is  comparitively  easy. 

Of  the  utility  of  a  total  separation  of  the  two  incongruous  por 
tions  of  our  population,  supposing  it  to  be  practicable,  none  have 
ever  doubted.  The  mode  of  accomplishing  that  most  desirable 
object,  has  alone  divided  public  opinion.  Colonization  in  Hayti, 
for  a  time,  had  its  partisans.  Without  throwing  any  impedi 
ments  in  the  way  of  executing  that  scheme,  the  American  colo 
nization  society  has  steadily  adhered  to  its  own.  The  Haytien 
project  has  passed  away.  Colonization  beyond  the  S-tony 
Mountains  has  sometimes  been  proposed ;  but  it  would  be  at 
tended  with  an  expense  and  difficulties  far  surpassing  the  African 


OF  THE  NEGROES.  461 

project,  whilst  it  would  not  unite  the  same  animating  motives. 
There  is  a  moral  fitness  in  the  idea  of  returning  to  Africa  her 
children,  whose  ancestors  have  been  torn  from  her  by  the  ruth 
less  hand  of  fraud  and  violence.  Transplanted  in  a  foreign 
land,  they  will  carry  back  to  their  native  soil  the  rich  fruits  of 
religion,  civilization,  law,  and  liberty.  May  it  not  be  one  of  the 
great  designs  of  the  Ruler  of  the  universe,  (whose  ways  are 
often  inscrutable  by  short-sighted  mortals,)  thus  to  transform  an 
original  crime  into  a  signal  blessing,  to  that  most  unfortunate 
portion  of  the  globe.  Of  all  classes  of  our  population,  the  most 
vicious  is  that  of  the  free  colored.  It  is  the  inevitable  result  of 
their  moral,  political,  and  civil  degradation.  Contaminated 
themselves,  they  extend  their  vices  to  all  around  them,  to  the 
slaves  and  to  the  whites.  If  the  principle  of  colonization  should 
be  confined  to  them ;  if  a  colony  can  be  firmly  established  and 
successfully  continued  in  Africa  which  should  draw  off  annually  an 
amount  of  that  portion  of  our  population  equal  to  its  annual  in 
crease,  much  good  will  be  done.  If  theprinciple  be  adopted  and  ap 
plied  by  the  states,  whose  laws  sanction  the  existence  of  slavery,  to 
an  extent  equal  to  the  annual  increase  of  slaves,  still  greater 
good  will  be  done.  This  good  will  be  felt  by  the  Africans  who 
go,  by  the  Africans  who  remain,  by  the  white  population  of  our 
country,  by  Africa,  and  by  America.  It  is  a  project  which  re 
commends  itself  to  favor  in  all  the  aspects  in  which  it  can  be 
contemplated.  It  will  do  good  in  every  and  any  extent  in  which 
it  may  be  executed.  It  is  a  circle  of  philanthropy,  every  seg 
ment  of  which  tells  and  testifies  to  the  beneficence  of  the  whole. 

Every  emigrant  to  Africa  is  a  missionary  carrying  with  him 
credentials  in  the  holy  cause  of  civilization,  religion,  and  free 
institutions.  Why  is  it  that  the  degree  of  success  of  missionary 
exertions  is  so  limited,  and  so  discouraging  to  those  whose 
piety  and  benevolence  prompt  them  ?  Is  it  not  because  the 
missionary  is  generally  an  alien  and  a  stranger,  perhaps  of  a 
different  color,  and  from  a  different  tribe  ?  There  is  a  sort  of 
instinctive  feeling  of  jealousy  and  distrust  towards  foreigners, 
which  repels  and  rejects  them  in  all  countries-;  and  this  feeling 
is  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  ignorance  and  barbarism  which 
prevail.  But  the  African  colonists,  whom  we  send  to  convert 
the  heathen,  are  of  the  same  color,  the  same  family,  the  same 
physical  constitution.  When  the  purposes  of  the  colony  shall 
be  fully  understood,  they  will  be  received  as  long  lost  brethren 
restored  to  the  embraces  of  their  friends  and  their  kindred  by  the 
dispensations  of  a  wise  Providence. 

The  society  is  reproached  lor  agitating  this  question.  It 
should  be  recollected  that  the  existence  of  free  people  of  color  is 
is  not  limited  to  the  states  only  which  tolerate  slavery.  The 
evil  extends  itself  to  all  the  states,  and  some  of  those  which  do 
not  allow  of  slavery,  their  cities  especially,  experience  the  evil 
in  an  extent  even  greater  than  it  exists  in  the  slave  states.  A 
39* 


462  ON  THE  COLONIZATION 

common  evil  confers  a  right  to  consider  and  apply  a  common 
remedy.  Nor  is  it  a  valid  objection  that  this  remedy  is  partial 
in  its  operation  or  distant  in  its  efficacy.  A  patient,  writhing 
under  the  tortures  of  excruciating  disease,  asks  of  his  physician 
to  cure  him  if  he  can,  and,  if  he  cannot,  to  mitigate  his  suffer 
ings.  But  the  remedy  proposed,  if  generally  adopted,  and  per- 
severingly  applied,  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time,  should  it  not 
entirely  eradicate  the  disease,  will  enable  the  body  politic  to 
bear  it  without  danger  and  without  suffering. 

We  are  reproached  with  doing  mischief  by  the  agitation  of 
this  question.  The  society  goes  into  no  household  to  disturb  its 
domestic  tranquility  j  it  addresses  itself  to  no  slaves  to  weaken 
their  obligations  of  obedience.  It  seeks  to  affect  no  man's  pro 
perty.  It  neither  has  the  power  nor  the  will  to  affect  the  pro 
perty  of  any  one  contrary  to  his  consent.  The  execution  ot  its 
scheme  would  augment,  instead  of  diminishing  the  value  of  the 
property  left  behind.  The  society,  composed  of  free  men,  con 
cerns  itself  only  with  the  free.  Collateral  consequences  we  are 
not  responsible  for.  It  is  not  this  society  which  has  produced 
the  great  moral'  revolution  which  the  age  exhibits.  What  would 
they,  who  thus  reproach  us,  have  done  ?  If  they  would  repress 
all  tendencies  towards  liberty  and  ultimate  emancipation,  they 
must  do  more  than  put  down  the  benevolent  efforts  of  this  so 
ciety.  They  must  go  back  to  the  era  of  our  liberty  and  inde 
pendence,  and  muzzle  the  cannon  which  thunders  its  annual 
joyous  return.  They  must  revive  the  slave  trade,  with  all  its 
train  of  atrocities.  They  must  suppress  the  workings  of  British 
philanthropy,  seeking  to  meliorate  the  condition  of  the  unfortu 
nate  West  Indian  slaves.  They  must  arrest  the  career  of  South 
American  deliverance  from  thraldom.  They  must  blow  out  the 
moral  lights  around  us,  and  extinguish  that  greatest  torch  of  all 
which  America  presents  to  a  benighted  world,  pointing  the  way 
to  their  rights,  their  liberties,  and  their  happiness.  And  when 
they  have  achieved  all  these  purposes,  their  work  will  be  yet  in 
complete.  They  must  penetrate  the  human  soul,  and  eradicate 
the  light  of  reason  and  the  love  of  liberty.  Then,  and  not  till 
then,  when  universal  darkness  and  despair  prevail,  can  you  per 
petuate  slavery,  and  repress  all  sympathies,  and  all  humane  and 
benevolent  efforts  among  freemen,  in  behalf  of  the  unhappy  por 
tion  of  our  race  doomed  to  bondage. 

Our  friends,  who  are  curst  with  this  greatest  of  human  evils, 
deserve  the  kindest  attention  and  consideration.  Their  property 
and  their  safety  are  both  involved.  But  the  liberal  and  candid 
among  them  will  not,  cannot,  expect*  that  every  project  to  de 
liver  our  country  from  it  is  to  be  crushed  because  of  a  possible 
and  ideal  danger. 

Animated  by  the  encouragement  of  the  past,  let  us  proceed 
under  the  cheering  prospects  which  lie  before  us.  Let  us  con 
tinue  to  appeal  to  the  pious,  the  liberal,  and  the  wise.  Let  us 
bear  in  mind  the  condition  of  our  forefathers,  when,  collected  OR 


ON  THE  BANK  QUESTION,  463 

the  beach  of  England,  they  embarked,  amidst  the  scoffing^  and 
the  false  predictions  of  the  assembled  multitude,  for  this  distant 
land ;  and  here,  in  spite  of  all  the  perils  of  forest  and  ocean, 
which  they  encountered,  successfully  laid  the  foundations  of  this 
glorious  republic.  Undismayed  by  the  prophecies  of  the  pre 
sumptuous,  let  us  supplicate  the  aid  of  the  American  representa 
tives  of  the  people,  and  redoubling  our  labors,  and  invoking  the 
blessings  of  an  all-wise  Providence,  I  boldly  and  confidently 
anticipate  success.  I  hope  the  resolution  which  I  offer  will  be 
unanimously  adopted. 


ON  THE  BANK  QUESTION. 

A  sketch  of  what  Mr.  Clay  said  on  the  Bank  Question,  in  an 
Address  to  his  Constituents,  in  Lexington,  June  3d,  1816. — 
[Extracted  from  the  Kentucky  Gazette.'] 

On  one  subject,  that  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  to 
which,  at  the  late  session  of  Congress,  he  gave  his  humble  sup 
port,  Mr.  Clay  felt  particularly  anxious  to  explain  the  grounds 
on  which  he  had  acted.  This  explanation,  if  not  due  to  his  own 
character,  the  state  and  district  to  which  he  belonged  had  a  right 
to  demand.  It  would  have  been  unnecessary,  if  his  observa 
tions,  addressed  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  pending  the 
measure,  had  been  published ;  but  they  were  not  published,  and 
why  they  were  not  published,  he  was  unadvised. 

When  he  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
he  was  induced  to  oppose  the  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  old 
bank  of  the  United  States,  by  three  general  considerations.  The 
first  was,  that  he  was  instructed  to  oppose  it  by  the  Legislature 
of  the  state.  What  were  the  reasons  that  operated  with  the 
Legislature,  in  giving  the  instruction,  he  did  not  know.  He  has 
understood  from  members  of  that  body,  at  the  time  it  was  o'lven, 
that  a  clause,  declaring  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  grant 
the  charter,  was  stricken  out;  from  which  it  might  be  inferred, 
either  that  the  Legislature  did  not  believe  a  bank  to  be  uncon 
stitutional,  or  that  it  had  formed  no  opinion  on  that  point.  This 
inference  derives  additional  strength  from  the  fact,  that,  although 
the  two  late  Senators  from  this  state,  as  well  as  the  present  Sena 
tors,  voted  for  a  national  bank,,  the  Legislature,  which  must  have 
been  well  apprised  that  such  a  measure  was  in  contemplation, 
did  not  again  interpose,  either  to  protest  against  the  measure 
itself,  or  to  censure  the  conduct  of  those  Senators,  From  this 
silence  on  the  part  of  a  body  which  has  ever  fixed  a  watchful 
eye  upon  the  proceedings  of  the  general  government,  he  had  a 
right  to  believe  that  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  saw,  without 
dissatisfaction,  the  proposal  to  establish  a  national  bank;  and 


464  ON  THE  BANK  Q.UESTION. 

that  its  opposition  to  the  former  one  was  upon  grounds  of  expe- 
diency,  applicable  to  that  corporation  alone,  or  no  longer  exist 
ing.  But  when,  at  the  last  session,  the  question  came  up  as  to 
the  establishment  of  a  national  bank,  being  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  the  point  of  inquiry  with  him  was  not 
so  much  what  was  the  opinion  of  the  Legislature,  although  un 
doubtedly  the  opinion  of  a  body  so  respectable  would  have  great 
weight  with  him  under  any  circumstances,  as  what  were  the 
sentiments  of  his  immediate  constituents.  These  he  believed 
to  be  in  favor  of  such  an  institution,  from  the  following  circum 
stances:  In  the  first  place,  his  predecessor,  (Mr.  Hawkins,)  voted 
for  a  national  bank,  without  the  slightest  murmur  of  discontent. 
Secondly,  during  the  last  fall,  when  he  was  in  his  district,  he 
conversed  freely  with  many  of  his  constituents  upon  that  subject, 
then  the  most  common  topic  of  conversation,  and  all,  without  a 
single  exception  as  far  as  he  recollected,  agreed  that  it  was  a 
desirable,  if  not  the  only  efficient  remedy,  for  the  alarming  evils 
in  the  currency  of  the  country.  And  lastly,  during  the  session 
he  received  many  letters  from  his  constituents,  prior  to  the  pas 
sage  of  the  bill,  all  of  which  concurred,  he  believed  without  a 
solitary  exception,  in  advising  the  measure.  So  far,  then,  from 
being  instructed  by  his  district  to  oppose  the  bank,  he  had  what 
was  perhaps  tantamount  to  an  instruction  to  support  it — the 
acquiescence  of  his  constituents  in  the  vote  of  their  former  rep 
resentative,  and  the  communications,  oral  and  written,  of  the 
opinions  of  many  of  them  in  favor  of  a  bank. 

The  next  consideration  which  induced  him  to  oppose  the  re 
newal  of  the  old  charter,  was,  that  he  believed  the  corporation 
had,  during  a  portion  of  the  period  of  its  existence,  abused  its 
powers,  and  had  sought  to  subserve  the  views  of  a  political 
party.  Instances  of  its  oppression  for  that  purpose  were  asserted 
to  have  occurred  at  Philadelphia  and  at  Charleston;  and,  although 
denied  in  Congress  by  the  friends  of  the  institution  during  the 
discussions  on  the  application  for  the  renewal  of  the  charter, 
they  were,  in  his  judgment,  satisfactorily  made  out.  This  op 
pression,  indeed,  was  admitted  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
in  the  debate  on  the  present  bank,  by  a  distinguished  member  of 
that  party  which  had  so  warmly  espoused  the  renewal  of  the  old 
charter.  It  may  be  said,  what  security  is  there  that  the  new 
bank  will  not  imitate  this  example  of  oppression  ?  He  answered, 
the  fate  of  the  old  bank  warning  all  similar  institutions  to  shun 
politics,  with  which  they  ought  not  to  have  any  concern;  the 
existence  of  abundant  competition,  arising  from  the  great  multi 
plication  of  banks,  and  the  precautions  which  are  to  be  found  in 
the  details  of  the  present  bill. 

A  third  consideration,  upon  which  he  acted  tn  1S11,  was  that, 
as  the  power  to  create  a  corporation,  such  as  was  proposed  to 
be  continued,  was  not  specifically  granted  in  the  constitution, 
and  did  not  then  appear  to  him  to  be  necessary  to  carry  into 
efiect  any  of  the  powers  which  were  specifically  granted,  Con- 


ON  THE  BANK  GlUESTION,  465 

gress  was  not  authorized  to  continue  the  bank.  The  constitu 
tion,  he  said,  contained  powers  delegated  and  prohibitory,  powers 
expressed  and  constructive.  It  vests  in  Congress  all  powers 
necessary  to  give  effect  to  the  enumerated  powers — all  that  may 
be  necessary  to  put  into  motion  and  activity  the  machine  of 
government  which  it  constructs.  The  powers  that  may  be  so 
necessary  are  deducible  by  construction.  They  are  not  defined 
in  the  constitution.  They  are,  from  their  nature,  indefinable. 
When  the  question  is  in  relation  to  one  of  these  powers,  the 
point  of  inquiry  should  be,  is  its  exertion  necessary  to  carry  into 
effect  any  of  the  enumerated  powers  and  objects  of  the  general 
government?  With  regard  to  the  degree  of  necessity,  various 
rules  have  been,  at  different  times,  laid  down;  but,  perhaps,  at 
last,  there  is  no  other  than  a  sound  and  honest  judgment  exer 
cised,  under  the  checks  and  control  which  belong  to  the  consti 
tution  and  to  the  people. 

The  constructive  powers,  being  auxiliary  to  the  specifically 
granted  powers,  and  depending,  for  their  sanction  and  exis 
tence,  upon  a  necessity  to  give  effect  to  the  latter,  which  neces 
sity  is  to  be  sought  for  and  ascertained  by  a  sound  and  honest 
discretion,  it  is  manifest  that  this  necessity  may  not  be  perceived, 
at  one  time,  under  one  state  of  things,  when  it  is  perceived  at 
another  time,  under  a  different  state  of  things.  The  constitu 
tion,  it  is  true,  never  changes;  it  is  always  the  same;  but  the 
force  of  circumstances  and  the  lights  of  experience  may  evolve 
to  the  fallible  persons,  charged  with  its  administration,  the  fit 
ness  and  necessity  of  a  particular  exercise  of  a  constructive 
power  to-day,  which  they  did  not  see  at  a  former  period. 

Mr.  Clay  proceeded  to  remark,  that  when  the  application  was 
made  to  renew  the  old  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States, 
such  an  institution  did  not  appear  to  him  to  be  so  necessary  to 
the  fulfillment  of  any  of  the  objects  specifically  enumerated  in 
the  constitution  as  to  justify  Congress  in  assuming,  by  construc 
tion,  power  to  establish  it.  It  was  supported  mainly  upon  the 
ground  that  it  was  indispensable  to  the  treasury  operations.  But 
the  local  institutions,  in  the  several  states  were  at  that  time  in 
prosperous  existence,  confided  in  by  the  community,  having 
a  confidence  in  each  other,  and  maintaining  an  intercourse  and 
connexion  the  most  intimate.  Many  of  them  were  actually  em 
ployed  by  the  treasury  to  aid  that  department,  in  a  part  of  its 
fiscal  arrangements;  and  they  appeared  to  him  to  be  fully  capa 
ble  of  affording  to  it  all  the  facility  that  it  ought  to  desire  in  all 
of  them.  They  superceded,  in  his  judgment,  the  necessity  of  a 
national  institution.  But  Jiow  stood  the  case  in  1816,  when  he 
was  called  upon  again  to  examine  the  power  of  the  general 
government  to  incorporate  a  national  bank.  A  total  change  of 
circumstances  was  presented.  Events  of  the  utmost  magnitude 
had  intervened. 

A  general  suspension  of  specie  payments  had  taken  place, 
and  this  had  led  to  a  train  of  consequences  of  the  most  alarm- 


466  ON  THE  BANK  dUESTION. 

ing  nature.  He  beheld,  dispersed  over  the  immense  extent  of 
the  United  States,  about  three  hundred  banking  institutions, 
enjoying,  in  different  degrees,  the  confidence  of  the  public,  sha 
ken  as  to  them  all,  under  no  direct  control  of  the  general  gov 
ernment,  and  subject  to  no  actual  responsibility  to  the  state 
authorities.  These  institutions  were  emitting  the  actual  curren 
cy  of  the  United  States ;  a  currency  consisting  of  a  paper,  on 
which  they  neither  paid  interest  nor  principal,  whilst  it  was  ex 
changed  for  the  paper  of  the  community,  on  which  both  were 
paid.  He  saw  these  institutions,  in  fact,  exercising  what  had 
been  considered,  at  all  times  and  in  all  countries,  one  of  the 
highest  attributes  of  sovereignty,  the  regulation  of  the  current 
medium  of  the  country.  They  were  no  longer  competent  to 
assist  the  treasury  in  either  of  the  great  operations  of  collection, 
deposit  or  distribution  of  the  public  revenues.  In  fact,  the  paper 
which  they  emitted,  and  which  the  treasury,  from  the  force  of 
events,  found  itself  constrained  to  receive,  was  constantly  ob 
structing  the  operations  of  that  department.  For  it  would  accu 
mulate  where  it  was  not  wanted,  and  could  not  be  used  where 
it  was  wanted  for  the  purposes  of  government,  without  a  ruinous 
and  arbitrary  brokerage.  Every  man  who  paid  or  received 
from  the  government,  paid  or  received  as  much  less  than  he 
ought  to  have  done,  as  was  the  difference  between  the  medium 
in  which  the  payment  was  effected,  and  specie.  Taxes  were  no 
longer  uniform.  In  New-England,  where  specie  payments  have 
not  been  suspended,  the  people  were  called  upon  to  pay  larger 
contributions  than  where  they  were  suspended.  In  Kentucky, 
as  much  more  was  paid  by  the  people  in  their  taxes  than  was 
paid,  for  example,  in  the  state  of  Ohio,  as  Kentucky  paper  was 
worth  more  than  Ohio  paper. 

It  appeared  to  Mr.  Clay  that,  in  this  condition  of  things,  the 
general  government  could  depend  no  longer  upon  these  local 
institutions,  multiplied  and  multiplying  daily — coming  into  exis 
tence  by  the  breath  of  eighteen  state  sovereignties,  some  of 
which,  by  a  single  act  of  volition,  had  created  twenty  or  thirty 
at  a  time.  Even  if  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  could 
have  been  anticipated,  the  general  government  remaining  pas 
sive,  it  did  not  seem  to  him  that  the  general  government  ought 
longer  to  depend  upon  these  local  institutions  exclusively  for  aid 
in  its  operations.  But  he  did  not  believe  it  could  be  justly  so 
anticipated.  It  was  not  the  interest  of  all  of  them  that  the  re 
newal  should  take  place  of  specie  payments,  and  yet,  without 
concert  between  all  or  most  of  them,  it  could  not  be  effected. 
With  regard  to  those  disposed  to  return  to  a  regular  state  of 
things,  great  difficulties  might  arise,  as  to  the  time  of  its  com 
mencement. 

Considering,  then,  that  the  state  of  the  currency  was  such 
that  no  thinking  man  could  contemplate  it  without  the  most  se 
rious  alarm,  that  it  threatened  general  distress,  if  it  did  not  ulti 
mately  lead  to  convulsion  and  subversion  of  the  government,  it 


ON  THE  BANK  QUESTION.  467 

appeared  to  him  to  be  the  duty  of  Congress  to  apply  a  remedy, 
if  a  remedy  could  be  devised.  A  national  bank,  with  other 
auxiliary  measures,  was  proposed  as  that  remedy.  Mr.  Clay 
said  he  determined  to  examine  the  question,  with  as  little  preju 
dice  as  possible  arising  from  his  former  opinion.  He  knew  that 
the  safest  course  to  him,  if  he  pursued  a  cold,  calculating  pru 
dence,  was  to  adhere  to  that  opinion,  right  or  wrong.  He  was 
perfectly  aware  that  if  he  changed,  or  seemed  to  change  it,  he 
•should  expose  himself  to  some  censure.  But,  looking  at  the 
subject  with  the  light  shed  upon  it  by  events  happening  since 
the  commencement  of  the  Avar,  he  could  no  longer  doubt.  A 
bank  appeared  to  him  not  only  necessary,  but  indispensably 
necessary,  in  connexion  with  another  measure,  to  remedy  the 
evils  of  which  all  were  but  too  sensible.  He  preferred,  to  the 
suggestions  of  the  pride  of  consistency,  the  evident  interests 
of  the  community,  and  determined  to  throw  himseif  upon  their 
candor  and  justice.  That  which  appeared  to  him  in  1811,  under 
the  state  of  things  then  existing,  not  to  be  necessary  to  the  gene 
ral  government,  seemed  now  to  be  necessary,  under  the  present 
state  of  things.  Had  he  then  foreseen  what  now  exists,  and  no 
objection  had  laid  against  the  renewal  of  the  charter,  other  than 
that  derived  from  the  constitution,  he  should  have  voted  for  the 
renewal. 

Other  provisions  of  the  constitution,  but  little  noticed,  if  no 
ticed  at  all,  on  the  discussions  in  Congress  in  1811,  would  seem 
to  urge  that  body  to  exert  all  its  powers  to  restore  to  a  sound 
state  the  money  of  the  country.  That  instrument  confers  upon 
Congress  the  power  to  coin  money,  and  to  regulate  the  value 
of  foreign  coins ;  and  the  states  are  prohibited  to  coin  money, 
to  emitl)ills  of  credit,  or  to  make  any  thing  but  gold  and  silver 
coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts.  The  plain  inference  is,  that 
the  subject  of  the  general  currency  was  intended  to  be  submit 
ted  exclusively  to  the  general  government.  In  point  of  fact, 
however,  the  regulation  of  the  general  currency  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  state  governments,  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  of  the 
banks  created  by  them.  Their  paper  has  every  quality  of  money 
except  that  of  being  made  a  tender,  and  even  this  is  imparted 
to  it  by  some  states,  in  the  law  by  which  a  creditor  must  receive 
it,  or  submit  to  a  ruinous  suspension  of  the  payment  of  his  debt 
It  was  incumbent  upon  Congress  to  recover  the  control  which 
it  had  lost  over  the  general  currency.  The  remedy  called  for 
was  one  of  caution  and  moderation,  but  of  firmness.  Whether 
a  remedy,  directly  acting  upon  the  banks  and  their  paper  thrown 
into  circulation,  was  in  the  power  of  the  general  government  or 
not,  neither  Congress  nor  the  community  were  prepared  for  the 
application  of  such  a  remedy.  An  indirect  remedy,  of  a  milder 
character,  seemed  to  be  furnished  by  a  national  bank.  Going 
into  operation  with  the  powerful  aid  of  the  treasury  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  he  believed  it  would  be  highly  instrumental  in  the 
renewal  of  specie  payments.  Coupled  with  the  other  measure 


468  ON  THE  BANK  UUESTION. 

adopted  by  Congress  for  that  object,  he  believed  the  remedy 
effectual.  The  local  banks  must  follow  the  example,  which  the 
national  bank  would  set  them,  of  redeeming  their  notes  by  the 
payment  of  specie,  or  their  notes  will  be  discredited  and  put 
down. 

If  the  constitution,  then,  warranted  the  establishment  of  a 
bank,  other  considerations,  besides  those  already  mentioned, 
strongly  urged  it.  The  want  of  a  general  medium  is  every 
\vhere  felt.  Exchange  varies  continually,  not  only  between  dif 
ferent  parts  of  the  Union,  but  between  different  parts  of  the  same 
city.  If  the  paper  of  a  national  bank  were  not  redeemed  in 
specie,  it  would  be  much  better  than  the  current  paper,  since, 
although  its  value,  in  comparison  with  specie,  might  fluctuate, 
it  would  afford  an  uniform  standard. 

If  political  power  be  incidental  to  banking  corporations,  there 
ought  perhaps  to  be  in  the  general  government  some  counter 
poise  to  that  which  is  exerted  by  the  states.  Such  a  counter 
poise  might  not  indeed  be  so  necessary,  if  the  states  exercised 
the  power  to  incorporate  banks  equally,  or  in  proportion  to  their 
respective  populations.  But  that  is  not  the  case.  A  single  state 
has  a  banking  capital  equivalent 'or  nearly  so,  to  one-fifth  of  the 
whole  banking  capital  of  the  United  States.  Four  states,  com 
bined,  have  the  major  part  of  the  banking  capital  of  the  United 
States.  In  the  event  of  any  convulsion,  in  which  the  distribu 
tion  of  banking  institutions  might  be  important,  it  may  be  urged 
that  the  mischief  would  not  be  alleviated  by  the  creation  of  a 
national  bank,  since  its  location  must  be  within  one  of  the 
states.  But  in  this  respect  the  location  of  the  bank  is  extremely 
favorable,  being  in  one  of  the  middle  states,  not  likely,  from  its 
position  as  well  as  its  loyalty,  to  concur  in  any  scheme  for  sub 
verting  the  government.  And  a  sufficient  security  against  such 
contingency  is  to  be  found  in  the  distribution  of  branches  in 
different  states,  acting  and  reacting  upon  the  parent  institution, 
and  upon  each  other. 


ADDRESS. 


ADDRESS 

To  the  people  of  the  Congressional  District  composed  of  the  coun 
ties  of  Fayelte,  Woodford  and  Clarke,  in  Kentucky,  1824. 

The  relations  of  your  representative  and  of  your  neighbor,  in 
which  I  have  so  long  stood,  and  in  which  I  have  experienced  so 
many  strong  proofs  of  your  confidence,  attachment,  and  friend 
ship,  having  just  been,  the  one  terminated,  and  the  other  sus 
pended,  I  avail  myself  of  the  occason  on  taking,  I  hope  a  tempo 
rary,  leave  of  you,  to  express  my  unfeigned  gratitude  lor  all  your 
favors,  and  to  assure  you  that  I  shall  cherish  a  fond  and  unceas 
ing  recollection  of  them.  The  extraordinary  circumstances  in 
which,  during  the  late  session  of  Congress,  I  have  been  placed, 
and  the  unmerited  animadversions  which  1  have  brought  upon 
mysellj  for  an  honest  and  faithful  discharge  of  my  public  duty, 
form  an  additional  motive  I'or  this  appeal  to  your  candor  and  jus 
tice.  If,  in  the  office  which  I  have  just  left,  I  have  abused  your 
confidence  and  betrayed  your  interests,  I  cannot  deserve  your 
support  in  that  on  the  duties  of  which  I  have  now  entered.  On 
the  contrary,  should  it  appear  that  1  have  been  assailed  without 
just  cause,  and  that  misguided  zeal  and  interested  passions  have 
singled  me  out  as  a  victim,  I  cannot  doubt  that  I  shall  cotinue  to 
find,  in  the  enlightened  tribunal  of  the  public,  that  cheering  coun 
tenance  and  impartial  judgment,  without  which  a  public  servant 
cannot  possibly  discharge  with  advantage  the  trust  confided  to 
him. 

It  is  known  to  you,  that  my  name  had  been  presented,  by  the 
respectable  states  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  and  Missouri, 
for  the  office  of  President,  to  the  consideration  of  the  American 
public,  and  that  it  had  attracted  some  attention  in  other  quarters 
of  the  Union.  When,  early  in  November  last,  I  took  my  depar 
ture  from  the  district  to  repair  to  this  city,  the  issue  of  the  Presi 
dential  election  before  the  people  was  unknown.  .Events,  how 
ever,  had  then  so  far  transpired  as  to  render  it  highly  probable 
that  there  would  be  no  election  by  the  people,  and  that  1  should 
be  excluded  from  the  House  of  Representatives.  It  became, 
therefore,  my  duty  to  consider,  and  to  make  up  an  opinion  on,  the 
respective  pretensions  of  the  three  gentlemen  that  might  be  re 
turned,  and  at  that  early  period  I  stated  to  Dr.  Drake,  one  of  the 
professors  in  the  Medical  school  of  Transylvania  University,  and 
to  John  J.  Crittenden,  Esq.,  of  Frankfort,  my  determination  to 
Eupport  Mr.  Adams  in  preference  to  Gen.  Jackson.  I  wrote  to 
Charles  Hammond,  Esq.,  of  Cincinnati,  about  the  same  time,  and 
mentioned  certain  objections  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Crawford, 
(among  which  was  that  of  his  continued  ill  health,)  that  appear 
ed  to  me  almost  insuperable.  During  my  journey  hither,  and 
up  to  near  Christmas,  it  remained  uncertain  whether  Mr.  Craw- 
40 


470  ADDRESS. 

ford  or  I  would  be  returned  to  the  House  of  Representatives. — 
Up  to  near  Christmas,  all  our  information  made  it  highly  proba 
ble  that  the  vote  of  Louisiana  would  be  given  to  me,  and  that! 
should  consequently  be  returned,  to  the  exclusion  of  Mr.  Craw- 
lord.  And,  whilst  that  probability  was  strong,  I  communicated 
to  Mr.  Senator  Johnston,  from  Louisiana,  my  resolution  not  to 
allow  my  name,  in  consequence  of  the  small  number  of  votes  by 
which  it  would  be  carried  into  the  house,  if  I  were  returned,  to 
constitute  an  obstacle,  for  one  moment,  to  an  election  in  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

During  the  month  of  December,  and  the  greater  part  of  Janu 
ary,  strong  professions  of  high  consideration,  and  of  unbounded 
admiration  of  me,  were  made  to  my  friends,  in  the  greatest  pro 
fusion,  by  some  of  the  active  friends  of  all  the  returned  candi 
dates.  Every  body  professed  to  regret,  after  I  was  excluded  from 
the  house,  that  I  had  not  been  returned  to  it.  I  seemed  to  be  the 
favorite  of  every  body.  Describing  my  situation  to  a  distant 
friend,  1  said  to  him,  "  I  am  enjoying,  whilst  alive,  the  posthu 
mous  honors  which  are  usually  awarded  to  the  venerated  dead." 
A  person  not  acquainted  with  human  nature  would  have  been 
surprised,  in  listening  to  these  praises,  that  the  object  of  them 
had  not  been  elected  by  general  acclamation.  None  made  more 
or  warmer  manifestations  of  these  sentiments  of  esteem  and  ad 
miration  than  some  of  the  friends  of  Gen.  Jackson.  None  were 
so  reserved  as  those  of  Mr.  Adams ;  under  an  opinion,  (as  I  have 
learnt  since  the  election,)  which  they  early  imbibed,  that  the 
western  vote  would  be  only  influenced  by  its  own  sense  of  pub 
lic  duty;  and  that  if  its  judgment  pointed  to  any  other  than  Mr. 
Adams,  nothing  which  they  could  do  would  secure  it  to  him. — 
These  professions  and  manifestations  were  taken  by  me  for  what 
they  were  worth.  I  knew  that  the  sunbeams  would  quickly  dis 
appear,  after  my  opinion  should  be  ascertained,  and  that  they 
would  be  succeeded  by  a  storm;  although  I  did  not  foresee  ex 
actly  how  it  would  burst  upon  my  poor  head.  I  found  myself 
transformed  from  a  candidate  before  the  people,  into  an  elector 
for  the  people.  I  deliberately  examined  the  duties  incident  to 
this  new  attitude,  and  weighed  all  the  facts  before  me,  upon 
which  my  judgment  was  to  be  formed  or  reviewed.  If  the  eager 
ness  of  any  of  the  heated  partisans  of  the  respective  candidates 
suggested  a  tardiness  in  the  declaration  of  my  intention,  I  believed 
that  the  new  relation,  in  which  I  was  placed  to  the  subject,  im 
posed  on  me  an  obligation  to  pay  some  respect  to  delicacy  and 
decorum. 

Meanwhile  that  very  reserve  supplied  aliment  to  newspaper 
criticism.  The  critics  could  not  comprehend  how  a  man  stand 
ing  as  I  had  stood  toward  the  other  gentlemen,  should  be  re 
strained,  by  a  sense  of  propriety,  from  instantly  fighting  under 
the  banners  of  one  of  them,  against  the  others.  Letters  were  is 
sued  from  the  manufactory  at  Washington,  to  come  back,  after 
performing  long  journeys,  for  Washington  consumption.  These 


ADDRESS.  471 

letters  imputed  to  "Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  a  mysterious  air,  a 
portentous  silence,"  &c.  From  dark  and  distant  hints  the  pro 
gress  was  easy  to  open  and  bitter  denunciation.  Anonymous 
letters,  full  of  menace  and  abuse,  were  almost  daily  poured  in  on 
me.  Personal  threats  were  communicated  to  me,  through  friend 
ly  organs,  and  I  was  kindly  apprised  of  all  the  glories  of  village 
effigies  which  awaited  me.  A  systematic  attack  was  simultane 
ously  commenced  upon  me  from  Boston  to  Charleston,  with  an 
object,  present  and  future,  which  it  was  impossible  to  mistake. — 
No  man  but  myself  could  know  the  nature,  extent,  and  variety 
of  means  which  were  employed  to  awe  and  influence  me.  I  bore 
them,  I  trust,  as  your  representative  ought  to  have  borne  them, 
and  as  became  me.  Then  followed  the  letter,  afterwards  adopt 
ed  as  his  own  by  Mr.  Kremer,  to  the  Columbian  Observer. — 
With  its  character  and  contents  you  are  well  acquainted.  When 
I  saw  that  letter,  alledged  to  be  written  by  a  member  of  the  very 
house  over  which  I  was  presiding,  who  was  so  far  designated  as 
to  be  described  as  belonging  to  a  particular  delegation,  by  name, 
a  member  with  whom  I  might  be  daily  exchanging,  at  least  on 
my  part,  friendly  salutations,  and  who  was  possibly  receiving 
from  me  constantly  acts  of  courtesy  and  kindness,  1  felt  that  I 
could  no  longer  remain  silent.  A  crisis  appeared  to  me  to  have 
arisen  in  my  public  life.  I  issued  my  card.  I  ought  not  to  have 
put  in  it  the  last  paragraph,  because,  although  it  does  not  neces 
sarily  imply  the  resort  to  a  personal  combat,  it  admits  of  that 
construction  :  nor  will  I  conceal,  that  such  a  possible  issue  was 
within  my  contemplation.  I  owe  it  to  the  community  to  say,  that 
whatever  heretofore.  I  may  have  done,  or  by  inevitable  circum 
stances,  might  be  forced  to  do,  no  man  in  it  holds  in  deeper  ab 
horrence  than  I  do,  that  pernicious  practice.  Condemned  as  it 
must  be  by  the  judgment  and  philosophy,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
religion,  of  every  thinking  man,  it  is  an  affair  of  feeling  about 
which  we  cannot,  although  we  should,  reason.  Its  true  correc 
tive  will  be  found  when  all  shall  unite,  as  all  ought  to  unite,  in 
its  unqualified  proscription. 

A  few  days  after  the  publication  of  my  card,  "  Another  Card," 
under  Mr.  Kremer's  name,  was  published  in  the  Intelligencer. — 
The  night  before,  as  I  was  voluntarily  informed,  Mr.  Eaton,  a 
Senator  from  Tennessee,  and  the  biographer  of  Gen.  Jackson, 
(who  boarded  in  the  end  of  this  city  opposite  to  that  in  which 
Mr.  Kremer  took  up  his  abode,  a  distance  of  about  two  miles 
and  a  half)  was  closeted  for  some  time  with  him.  Mr.  Kremer 
is  entitled  to  great  credit  for  having  overcome  all  the  disadvan 
tages,  incident  to  his  early  life  and  want  of  education,  and  forced 
his  way  to  the  honorable  station  of  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  Ardent  in  his  attachment  to  the  cause  which 
he  had  espoused,  Gen.  Jackson  is  his  idol,  and  of  his  blind  zeal 
others  have  availed  themselves,  and  have  made  him  their  dupe 
and  their  instrument.  I  do  not  pretend  to  know  the  object  of 
Mr,  Eaton's  visit  to  him.  I  state  the  fact,  as  it  was  communica- 


472  ADDRESS. 

ted  to  me,  and  leave  you  to  judge.  Mr.  Kremer's  card  is  com 
posed  with  some  care  and  no  little  art,  and  he  is  made  to  avow 
in  it,  though  somewhat  equivocally,  that  he  is  the  author  of  the 
letter  to  the  Columbian  Observer.  To  Mr.  Crowninshield,  a 
member  from  Massachusetts,  formerly  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
he  declared  that  he  was  not  the  author  of  that  letter.  In  his 
card,  he  draws  a  clear  line  of  separation  between  my  friends  and 
me,  acquitting  them  and  undertaking  to  make  good  his  charges, 
in  that  letter,  only  so  far  as  I  was  concerned.  The  purpose  of 
this  discrimination  is  obvious.  At  that  time  the  election  was  un 
decided,  and  it  was  therefore  as  important  to  abstain  from  impu 
tations  against  my  friends,  as  it  was  politic  to  fix  them  upon  me. 
If  they  could  be  made  to  believe  that  I  had  been  perfidious,  in 
the  transport  of  their  indignation,  they  might  have  been  carried 
to  the  support  of  Gen.  Jackson.  I  received  the  National  Intelli 
gencer,  containing  Mr.  Kremer's  card,  at  breakfast,  (the  usual 
time  of  its  distribution,)  on  the  morning  of  its  publication.  As 
soon  as  I  read  the  card,  I  took  my  resolution.  The  terms  of  it 
clearly  implied  that  it  had  not  entered  into  his  conception  to  have 
a  personal  affair  with  me ;  and  I  should  have  justly  exposed  my 
self  to  universal  ridicule,  if  I  had  sought  one  with  him.  I  deter 
mined  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  house,  and  respectfully  to  in 
vite  an  investigation  of  my  conduct.  I  accordingly  made  a  com 
munication  to  the  house,  on  the  same  day,  the  motives  for  which 
I  assigned.  Mr.  Kremerwas  in  his  place,  and,  when  I  sat  down, 
rose  and  stated  that  he  was  prepared  and  willing  to  substantiate 
his  charges  against  me.  This  was  his  voluntary  declaration, 
unprompted  by  his  aiders  and  abettors,  who  had  no  opportunity 
of  previous  consultation  with  him  on  that  point.  Here  was  an 
issue  publicly  and  solemnly  joined,  in  which  the  accused  invoked 
an  inquiry  into  serious  charges  against  him,  and  the  accuser  pro 
fessed  an  ability  and  a  willingness  to  establish  them.  A  debate 
ensued,  on  the  next  day,  which  occupied  the  greater  part  of  it, 
during  which  Mr.  Kremer  declared  to  Mr.  Brent,  of  Louisiana,  a 
friend  of  mine,  and  to  Mr.  Little,  of  Maryland,  a  friend  of  Gen. 
Jackson,  as  they  have  certified,  "  that  he  never  intended  to  charge 
Mr.  Clay  with  corruption  or  dishonor,  in  his  intended  vote  for 
Mr.  Adams,  as  President,  or  that  he  had  transferred,  or  could 
transfer,  the  votes  or  interests  of  his  friends ;  that  he  (Mr.  Kre 
mer,)  was  among  the  last  men  in  the  nation  to  make  such  a 
charge  against  Mr.  Clay  ;  and  that  his  letter  was  never  intended 
to  convey  the  idea  given  to  it."  Mr.  Digges,  a  highly  respecta 
ble  inhabitant  of  this  city,  has  certified  to  the  same  declarations 
of  Mr.  Kremer. 

A  message  was  also  conveyed  to  me,  during  the  discussion, 
through  a  member  of  the  house,  to  ascertain  if  I  would  be  satis 
fied  with  an  explanation  which  was  put  on  paper  and  shown  me, 
and  which  it  was  stated  Mr.  Kremer  was  willing,  in  his  place,  to 
make.  I  replied  that  the  matter  was  in  the  possession  of  the 
house.  I  was  afterwards  told,  that  Mr.  Ingham,  of  Pennsylvania, 


ADDRESS.  473 

got  hold  of  that  paper,  put  it  in  nis  pocket,  and  that  he  advised 
Mr.  Kremer  to  take  no  step  without,  the  approbation  of  his  friends. 
Mr.  Cook,  of  Illinois,  moved  an  adjournment  of  the  house,  oa  in 
formation  which  he  received  of  the  probability  of  Mr.  Kremer's 
making  a  satisfactory  atonement  on  the  next  day,  for  the  injury 
which  he  had  done  me,  which  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  have 
made,  if  he  had  been  left  to  the  impulses  of  his  native  honesty. 
The  house  decided  to  refer  my  communication  to  a  committee, 
and  adjourned  until  the  next  day  to  appoint  it  by  ballot.  In  the 
meantime  Mr.  Kremer  had  taken,  I  presume,  or  rather  there  had 
been  forced  upon  him,  the  advice  of  his  friends,  and  I  heard  no 
more  of  the  apology.  A  committee  was  appointed  of  seven  gen 
tlemen,  of  whom  not  one  was  my  political  friend,  but  who  were 
among  the  most  eminent  members  of  the  body.  I  received  no 
summons  or  notification  from  the  committee  from  its  first  organi 
zation  to  its  final  dissolution,  but  Mr.  Kremer  was  called  upon 
by  it  to  bring  forward  his  proofs.  For  one  moment  be  pleased 
to  stop  here  and  contemplate  his  posture,  his  relation  to  the  house 
and  to  me,  and  the  high  obligations  under  which  he  had  volun 
tarily  placed  himself.  He  was  a  member  of  one  of  the  most  au 
gust  assemblies  upon  earth,  of  which  he  was  bound  to  defend  the 
purity  or  expose  the  corruption,  by  every  consideration  which 
ought  to  influence  a  patriot  bosom.  A  most  responsible  and 
highly  important  constitutional  duty  was  to  be  performed  by  that 
assembly.  He  had  chosen  in  an  anonymous  letter,  to  bring 
against  its  presiding  officer  charges,  in  respect  to  that  duty,  of 
the  most  flagitious  character.  These  charges  comprehended  de 
legations  from  several  highly  respectable  states.  If  true,  that 
presiding  officer  merited  not  merely  to  be  dragged  from  the 
chair,  but  to  be  expelled  the  house.  He  challenges  an  investi 
gation  into  his  conduct,  and  Mr.  Kremer  boldly  accepts  the  chal 
lenge,  and  promises  to  sustain  his  accusation.  The  committee, 
appointed  by  the  house  itself,  with  the  common  consent  of  both 
parties,  calls  upon  Mr.  Kremer  to  execute  his  pledge  publicly 
given,  in  his  proper  place,  and  also  previously  given  in  the  pub 
lic  prints.  Here  is  the  theatre  of  the  alledged  arrangements  ; 
this  the  vicinage  in  which  the  trial  ought  to  take  place.  Every 
thing  was  here  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  the  witnesses,  if  there 
were  any.  Here  all  the  proofs  were  concentrated.  Mr.  Kremer 
was  stimulated  by  every  motive  which  could  impel  to  action ;  by 
his  consistency  of  character ;  by  duty  to  his  constituents — to  his 
country ;  by  that  of  redeeming  his  solemn  pledge ;  by  his  anxious 
wish  for  the  success  of  his  favorite,  whose  interests  could  not  fail 
to  be  advanced  by  supporting  his  atrocious  charges.  But  Mr. 
Kremer  had  now  the  benefit  of  the  advice  of  his  friends.  He  had 
no  proofs,  for  the  plainest  of  all  reasons,  because  there  was  no 
truth  in  his  charges.  They  saw  that  to  attempt  to  establish  them 
and  to  fail,  as  he  must  fail  in  the  attempt,  might  lead  to  an  expo- 
sure  of  the  conspiracy,  of  what  he  was  the  organ.  They  advised 
40* 


474  ADDRESS. 

therefore  that  he  should  make  a  retreat,  and  their  adroitness 
suggested,  that  in  an  objection  to  that  jurisdiction  of  the  house, 
which  had  been  admitted,  and  in  the  popular  topics  of  the  free 
dom  of  the  press,  his  duty  to  his  constituents,  and  the  inequality 
in  the  condition  of  the  speaker  of  the  house,  and  a  member  on 
the  floor,  plausible  means  might  be  found  to  deceive  the  ignorant 
and  conceal  his  disgrace.  A  labored  communication  was  accor 
dingly  prepared  by  them,  in  Mr.  Kremer's  name,  and  transmitted 
to  the  committee,  founded  upon  these  suggestions.  Thus  the 
valiant  champion,  who  had  boldly  stepped  forward,  and  promised 
as  a  representative  of  the  people,  to  "  cry  aloud  and  spare  not," 
forgot  all  his  gratuitous  gallantry  and  boasted  patriotism,  and 
sunk  at  once  into  profound  silence. 

With  these  remarks,  I  will,  for  the  present,  leave  him,  and  pro 
ceed  to  assign  the  reasons  to  you,  to  whom  alone  I  admit  myself 
to  be  officially  responsible,  for  the  vote  which  I  gave  on  the  Pre 
sidential  election.  The  mst  inquiry  which  it  behoved  me  to  make 
was,  as  to  the  influence  which  ought  to  be  exerted  on  my  judg 
ment,  by  the  relative  state  of  the  electoral  votes  which  the  three 
returned  candidates  brought  into  the  house,  from  the  colleges. — 
Gen.  Jackson  obtained  ninety-nine,  Mr.  Adams  eighty-four,  and 
Mr.  Crawford  forty-one.  Ought  the  fact  of  a  plurality  being 
given  to  one  of  the  candidates  to  have  any,  and  what,  weight? 
If  the  constitution  had  intended  that  it  should  have  been  decisive, 
the  constitution  would  have  made  it  decisive,  and  interdicted  the 
exercise  of  any  discretion  on  the  part  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives.  The  constitution  has  not  so  ordained,  but,  on  the  con 
trary,  it  has  provided,  that  "  from  the  persons  having  the  highest 
numbers,  not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as 
President,  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose,  immedi- 
a,tejy,  by  ballot,  a  President."  Thus  a  discretion  is  necessarily 
invested  in  the  house — for  choice  implies  examination,  compari 
son,  judgment.  The  fact,  therefore,  that  one  of  the  three  persons 
was  the  highest  returned,  not  being,  by  the  constitution  of  the 
country,  conclusive  upon  the  judgment  of  the  house,  it  still  re 
mains  to  determine  what  is  the  true  degree  of  weight  belonging 
to  it?  It  has  been  contended  that  it  should  operate,  if  not  as  an 
instruction,  at  least  in  the  nature  of  one,  and  that  in  this  form  it 
should  control  the  judgment  of  the  house.  But  this  is  the  same 
argument  of  conclusiveness,  which  the  constitution  does  not  en 
join,  thrown  into  a  different,  but  more  imposing  shape.  Let  me 
analyze  it.  There  are  certain  states,  the  aggregate  of  whose 
electoral  votes  conferred  upon  the  highest  returned  candidate, 
indicates  their  wish  that  he  should  be  the  President.  Their  votes 
amount  in  number  to  ninety-nine,  out  of  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  electoral  votes  of  the  whole  Union.  These  ninety-nine  do 
not,  and  cannot,  of  themselves,  make  the  President.  If  the  fact 
of  particular  states  giving  ninety-nine  votes,  can,  according  to 
any  received  notions  of  the  doctrine  of  instruction,  be  regarded 
in  that  light,  to  whom  are  those  instructions  to  be  considered  ad- 


ADDRESS.  475 

dressed?  According  to  that  doctrine,  the  people,  who  appoint, 
have  the  right  to  direct,  by  their  instruction,  in  certain  cases,  the 
course  of  the  representative  whom  they  appoint.  The  states, 
therefore,  who  gave  those  ninety-nine  votes,  may  in  some  sense 
be  understood  thereby  to  have  instructed  their  representatives  in 
the  house  to  vote  for  the  person  on  whom  they  were  bestowed,  in 
the  choice  of  a  President.  But  most  clearly  the  representatives 
coming  from  other  states,  which  gave  no  part  of  those  ninety- 
nine  votes,  cannot  be  considered  as  having  been  under  any  obli 
gation  to  surrender  their  judgments  to  those  of  the  states  which  ' 
gave  the  ninety-nine  votes.  To  contend  that  they  are  under 
such  an  obligation  would  be  to  maintain  that  the  people  of  one 
state  have  a  right  to  instruct  the  representatives  from  another 
state.  It  would  be  to  maintain  a  still  more  absurd  proposition, 
that,  in  a  case  where  the  representatives  from  a  state  did  not 
hold  themselves  instructed  and  bound  by  the  will  of  that  state, 
as  indicated  in  its  electoral  college,  the  representatives  from 
another  state  were,  nevertheless,  instructed  and  bound  by  that 
alien  will.  Thus  the  entire  vote  of  North  Carolina,  and  a  large 
majority  of  that  of  Maryland,  in  their  respective  electoral  colle 
ges,  were  given  to  one  of  the  three  returned  candidates,  for  whom 
the  delegation  from  neither  of  those  states  voted.  And  yet  the 
argument  combatted  requires  that  the  delegation  from  Kentucky, 
who  do  not  represent  the  people  of  North  Carolina  nor  Maryland, 
should  be  instructed  by,  and  give  an  effect  to,  the  indicated  will 
of  the  people  of  those  two  states,  when  their  own  delegation  paid 
no  attention  to  it.  Doubtless,  those  delegations  felt  themselves 
authorised  to  look  into  the  actual  composition  of,  and  all  other 
circumstances  connected  with,  the  majorities  which  gave  the 
electoral  votes,  in  their  respective  states ;  and  felt  themselves  jus 
tified,  from  a  view  of  the  whole  ground,  to  act  upon  their  respon 
sibility  and  according  to  their  best  judgments,  disregarding  the 
electoral  votes  in  their  states.  And  are  representatives  from  a 
different  state  not  only  bound  by  the  will  of  the  people  of  a  dif 
ferent  commonwealth,  but  forbidden  to  examine  into  the  manner 
by  which  the  expression  of  that  will  was  brought  about — an  ex 
amination  which  the  immediate  representatives  themselves  feel 
it  their  duty  to  make  ? 

Is  the  fact,  then,  of  a  plurality  to  have  no  weight  ?  Far  from 
it.  Here  are  twenty-four  communities,  united  under  a  common 
government.  The  expression  of  the  will  of  any  one  of  them  is 
entitled  to  the  most  respectful  attention.  It  ought  to  be  patiently 
heard  and  kindly  regarded  by  the  others;  but  it  cannot  be  ad 
mitted  to  be  conclusive  upon  them.  The  expression  of  the  will 
of  ninety-nine  out  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  electors  is  en 
titled  to  very  great  attention,  but  that  will  cannot  be  considered 
as  entiled  to  control  the  will  of  the  one  hundred  and  sixty-twa 
electors  who  have  manifested  a  different  will.  To  give  it  sueh 
controlling  influence,  would  be  a  subversion  of  the  fundamental 
maxim  of  the  republic — that  the  majority  should  govern.  The 


476  ADDRESS. 

will  of  the  ninety-nine  can  neither  be  allowed  rightfully  to  con 
trol  the  remaining  one  hundred  and  sixty-two,  nor  any  one  of 
the  one  hundred  and  sixty -two  electoral  votes.  It  may  be  an 
argument,  a  persuasion,  addressed  to  all  and  to  each  of  them, 
but  it  is  binding  and  obligatory  upon  none.  It  follows,  then,  that 
the  fact  of  a  plurality  was  only  one  among  the  various  conside 
rations  which  the  House  was  called  upon  to  weigh,  in  making 
up  its  judgment.  And  the  weight  of  the  consideration  ought  to 
have  been  regulated  by  the  extent  of  the  plurality.  As  between 
General  Jackson  and  Mr.  Adams,  the  vote  standing  in  the  pro 
portions  of  ninety-nine  to  eighty-four,  it  was  entitled  to  less 
weight;  as  between  the  General  and  Mr.  Crawford,  it  was  enti 
tled  to  more,  the  vote  being  as  ninety-nine  to  forty-one.  The 
concession  may  even  be  made  that,  upon  the  supposition  of  an 
equality  of  pretensions  between  competing  candidates,  the  pre 
ponderance  ought  to  be  given  to  the  fact  of  a  plurality. 

With  these  views  of  the  relative  state  of  the  vote  with  which 
the  three  returned  candidates  entered  the  House,  I  proceeded  to 
examine  the  other  considerations  which  belonged  to  the  ques 
tion.  For  Mr.  Crawford,  who  barely  entered  the  House,  with 
only  four  votes  more  than  one  candidate  not  returned,  and  upon 
whose  case,  therefore,  the  argument  derived  from  the  fact  of 
plurality  operated  with  strong,  though  not  decisive  force,  I  have 
ever  felt  much  personal  regard.  But  I  was  called  upon  to  per 
form  a  solemn  public  duty,  in  which  my  private  feelings,  whether 
of  affection  or  aversion,  were  not  to  be  indulged,  but  the  good 
of  my  country  only  consulted.  It  appeared  to  me  that  the  pre 
carious  state  of  that  gentleman's  health,  although  I  participated 
with  his  best  friends  in  all  their  regrets  and  sympathies  on  ac 
count  of  it,  was  conclusive  against  him,  to  say  nothing  of  other 
considerations,  of  a  public  nature,  which  would  have  deserved 
examination,  if,  happily,  in  that  respect  he  had  been  differently 
circumstanced.  He  had  been  ill  near  eighteen  months;  and, 
although  I  am  aware  that  his  actual  condition  was  a  fact  de 
pending  upon  evidence,  and  that  the  evidence  in  regard  to 
it,  which  had  been  presented  to  the  public,  was  not  perfectly 
harmonious;  I  judged  for  myself  upon  what  I  saw  and  heard. 
He  may,  and  I  ardently  hope  will,  recover;  but  I  did  not  think 
it  became  me  to  assist  in  committing  the  executive  administra 
tion  of  this  great  republic  on  the  doubtful  contingency  of  the 
restoration  to  health  of  a  gentleman  who  had  been  so  long  and 
so  seriously  afflicted.  Moreover,  if,  under  all  the  circumstances 
of  his  situation,  his  election  had  been  desirable,  I  did  not  think 
it  practicable.  I  believed,  and  yet  believe,  that,  if  the  votes  of 
the  western  states,  given  to  Mr.  Adams,  had  been  conferred  on 
Mr.  Crawford,  the  effect  would  have  been  to  protract  in  the 
House  the  decision  of  the  contest,  to  the  great  agitation  and 
distraction  of  the  country,  and  possibly  to  defeat  an  election 
altogether— the  very  worst  result,  I  thought,  that  could  happen. 
It  appeared  to  me,  then,  that,  sooner  or  later,  we  must  arrive  at 


ADDRESS.  477 

the  only  practical  issue  of  the  contest  before  us,  and  that  was 
between  Mr.  Adams  and  General  Jackson,  and  I  thought  that 
the  earlier  we  got  there,  the  better  for  the  country,  and  for  the 
House. 

In  considering  this  only  alternative,  I  was  not  unaware  of  your 
strong  desire  to  have  a  western  President;  but  I  thought  that  I 
knew  enough  of  your  patriotism  and  magnanimity,  displayed  on 
so  many  occasions,  to  believe  that  you  could  rise  above  the 
mere  gratification  of  sectional  pride,  if  the  common  good  of  the 
whole  required  you  to  make  the  sacrifice  of  local  partiality.  I 
solemnly  believed  it  did,  and  this  brings  me  to  the  most  impor 
tant  consideration  which  belonged  to  the  whole  subject — that 
arising  out  of  the  respective  fitness  of  the  only  two  real  com 
petitors,  as  it  appeared  to  my  best  judgment.  In  speaking  of 
General  Jackson,  I  am  aware  of  the  delicacy  and  respect  which 
are  justly  due  to  that  distinguished  citizen.  It  is  far  from  my 
purpose  to  attempt  to  disparage  him.  I  could  not  do  it  if  I  were 
capable  of  making  the  attempt ;  but  I  shall  nevertheless  speak 
of  him  as  becomes  me,  with  truth.  I  did  not  believe  him  so 
competent  to  discharge  the  various,  intricate  and  complex  du 
ties  of  the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate,  as  his  competitor.  He 
has  displayed  great  skill  and  bravery  as  a  military  commander, 
and  his  renown  will  endure  as  long  as  the  means  exist  of  pre 
serving  a  recollection  of  human  transactions.  But  to  be  quali 
fied  to  discharge  the  duties  of  President  of  the  United  States, 
the  incumbent  must  have  more  than  mere  military  attainments — 
he  must  be  a  STATESMAN.  An  individual  may  be  a  gallant  and 
successful  general,  an  eminent  lawyer,  an  eloquent  divine,  a 
learned  physician,  or  an  accomplished  artist;  and  doubtless  the 
union  of  a.ll  these  characters  in  the  person  of  a  Chief  Magistrate 
would  be  desirable ;  but  no  one  of  them,  nor  all  combined,  will 
qualify  him  to  be  President,  unless  he  superadds  that  indispensa 
ble  requisite  of  being  a  statesman.  Far  from  meaning  to  say 
that  it  is  an  objection  to  the  elevation,  to  the  Chief  Magistracy, 
of  any  person,  that  he  is  a  military  commander,  if  he  unites  the 
other  qualifications,  I  only  intend  to  say  that,  whatever  may  be 
the  success  or  splendor  of  his  military  achievements,  if  his  quali 
fications  be  only  military,  that  is  an  objection,  and,  I  think,  a 
decisive  objection,  to  his  election.  If  General  Jackson  has  ex 
hibited,  either  in  the  councils  of  the  Union,  or  in  those  of  his  own 
state,  or  in  those  of  any  other  state  or  territory,  the  qualities 
of  a  statesman;  the  evidence  of  the  fact  has  escaped  my  observa 
tion.  It  would  be  as  painful  as  it  is  unnecessary  to  recapitulate 
some  of  the  incidents,  which  must  be  fresh  in  your  recollection, 
of  his  public  life.  But  I  was  greatly  deceived  in  my  judgment 
if  they  proved  him  to  be  endowed  with  that  prudence,  temper 
and  discretion  which  are  necessary  for  civil  administration.  It 
was  in  vain  to  remind  me  of  the  illustrious  example  of  Washing 
ton.  There  was  in  that  extraordinary  person  united  a  serenity 
of  mind,  a  cool  and  collected  wisdom,  a  cautious  and  deliberate 


478  ADDRESS. 

'judgment,  a  perfect  command  of  the  passions,  and,  throughout 
his  whole  life,  a  familiarity  and  acquaintance  with  business  ana 
civil  transactions  which  rarely  characterize  any  human  being,, 
No  man  was  ever  more  deeply  penetrated  than  he  was  with  pro 
found  respect  for  the  safe  and  necessary  principle  of  the  entire 
subordination  of  the  military  to  the  civil  authority.  I  hope  I  do 
no  injustice  to  General  Jackson  when  I  say,  that  I  could  not 
recognize,  in  his  public  conduct,  those  attainments,  for  both  civil 
government  and  military  command,  which  cotemporaries  and 
posterity  have  alike  unanimously  concurred  in  awarding  as  yet 
only  to  the  father  of  his  country.  I  was  sensible  of  the  grati 
tude  which  the  people  of  this  country  justly  feel  towards  General 
Jackson  for  his  brilliant  military  services.  But  the  impulses  of 
public  gratitude  should  be  controlled,  as  it  appeared  to  me,  by 
reason  and  discretion,  and  I  was  not  prepared  blindly  to  surren 
der  myself  to  the  hazardous  indulgence  of  a  feeling,  however 
amiable  and  excellent  that  feeling  may  be  when  properly  direct 
ed.  It  did  not  seem  to  me  to  be  wise  or  prudent,  if,  as  I  solemnly 
believe,  General  Jackson's  competency  for  the  office  was  highly- 
questionable,  that  he  should  be  placed  in  a  situation  where  nei 
ther  his  fame  nor  the  public  interests  would  be  advanced.  Gen 
eral  Jackson  himself  would  be  the  last  man  to  recommend  or 
vote  for  any  one  for  a  place  for  which  he  thought  him  unfit.  I 
felt  myself  sustained  by  his  own  reasoning,  in  his  letter  to  Mr, 
Monroe,  in  which,  speaking  of  the  qualifications  of  our  venerable 
Shelby  for  the  Department  of  War,  he  remarked :  "  I  am  com 
pelled  to  say  to  you,  that  the  acquirements  of  this  worthy  man 
are  not  competent  to  the  discharge  of  the  multiplied  duties  of 
this  department.  I  therefore  hopp.  he  may  not  accept  the  ap 
pointment.  I  am  fearful,  if  he  does,  he  will  not  add  much  splen 
dor  to  his  present  well-earned  standing  as  a  public  character.'* 
Such  was  my  opinion  of  General  Jackson,  in  reference  to  the 
Presidency.  His  conviction  of  Governor  Shelby's  unfitness,  by 
the  habits  of  his  life,  for  the  appointment  of  Secretary  of  War, 
were  not  more  honest  nor  stronger  than  mine  were  of  his  own 
want  of  experience,  and  the  necessary  civil  qualifications  to  dis 
charge  the  duties  of  a  President  of  the  United  States.  In  his 
elevation  to  this  office,  too,  I  thought  I  perceived  the  establish 
ment  of  a  fearful  precedent;  and  I  am  mistaken  in  all  the  warn 
ings  of  instructive  history,  if  I  erred  in  my  judgment.  Un 
doubtedly  there  are  other  and  many  dangers  to  public  liberty, 
besides  that  which  proceeds  from  military  idolatry,  but  I  have 
yet  to  acquire  the  knowledge  of  it,  if  there  be  one  more  perilous 
or  more  frequent. 

Whether  Mr.  Adams  would  or  would  not  have  been  my  choice 
of  a  President,  if  I  had  been  left  freely  to  select  from  the  whole 
mass  of  American  citizens,  was  not  the  question  submitted  to 
my  decision.  I  had  no  such  liberty;  but  I  was  circumscribed,  in 
the  selection  I  had  to  make,  to  one  of  the  three  gentlemen  whom 
the  people  themselves  had  thought  proper  to  present  to  the 


ADDRESS.  479 

House  of  Representatives.  Whatever  objections  might  be  sup 
posed  to  exist  against  him,  still  greater  appeared  to  me  to  apply 
to  his  competitor.  Of  Mr.  Adarns,  it  is  but  truth  and  justice  to 
say,  that  he  is  highly  gifted,  profoundly  learned,  and  long  and 
greatly  experienced  in  public  affairs,  at  home  and  abroad.  Inti 
mately  conversant  with  the  rise  and  progress  of  every  negotia 
tion  with  foreign  powers,  pending  or  concluded;  personally  ac 
quainted  with  the  capacity  and  attainments  of  most  of  the  pub 
lic  men  of  this  country  whom  it  might  be  proper  to  employ 
in  the  public  service ;  extensively  possessed  of  much  of  that 
valuable  kind  of  information  which  is  to  be  acquired  neither 
from  books  nor  tradition,  but  which  is  the  fruit  of  largely  partici 
pating  in  public  affairs;  discreet  and  sagacious;  he  would  enter 
on  the  duties  of  the  office  with  great  advantages.  I  saw  in  his 
election  the  establishment  of  no  dangerous  example.  I  saw  in 
it  on  the  contrary,  only  conformity  to  the  safe  precedents  which 
had  been  established  in  the  instances  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Madi 
son  and  Mr.  Monroe,  who  had  respectively  filled  the  same  office 
from  which  he  was  to  be  translated. 

A  collateral  consideration  of  much  weight  was  derived  from 
the  wishes  of  the  Ohio  delegation.  A  majority  of  it,  during 
the  progress  of  the  session,  made  up  their  opinions  to  support 
Mr.  Adams,  and  they  were  communicated  to  me.  They  said, 
'•Ohio  supported  the  candidate  who  was  the  choice  of  Kentucky. 
We  failed  in  our  common  exertions  to  secure  his  election.  Now, 
among  those  returned,  we  have  a  decided  preference,  and  we 
think  you  ought  to  make  some  sacrifice  to  gratify  us."  Was  not 
much  due  to  our  neighbor  and  friend  ? 

I  considered,  with  the  greatest  respect,  the  resolution  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  Kentucky,  requesting  the  delegation  to 
ycte  for  General  Jackson.  That  resolution,  it  is  true,  placed  us 
in  a  peculiar  situation.  Whilst  every  other  delegation,  from 
every  other  state  in  the  Union,  was  left  by  its  Legislature  en 
tirely  free  to  examine  the  pretensions  of  all  the  candidates,  and 
to  form  its  unbiassed  judgment,  the  General  Assembly  of  Ken 
tucky  thought  proper  to  interpose,  and  request  the  delegation 
to  give  its  vote  to  one  of  the  candidates,  whom  they  were  pleased 
to  designate.  I  felt  a  sincere  desire  to  comply  with  a  request 
emanating  from  a  source  so  respectable,  if  I  could  have  done  so 
consistently  with  those  paramount  duties  which  I  owed  to  you 
and  to  the  country.  But,  after  full  and  anxious  consideration,  I 
found  it  incompatible  with  my  best  judgment  of  those  duties  to 
conform  to  the  request  of  the  General  Assembly.  The  resolu 
tion  asserts  that  it  was  the  wish  of  the  people  of  Kentucky  that 
their  delegation  should  vote  for  the  General.  It  did  not  inform 
me  by  what  means  that  body  had  arrived  at  a  knowledge  of  the 
wish  of  the  people.  I  knew  that  its  members  had  repaired  to 
Frankfort  before  I  departed  from  home  to  come  to  Washington. 
I  knew  that  their  attention  was  fixed  on  important  locarcoa- 
ej  well  entitled,  by  their  magnitude,  exclusively  to  engross 


480  ADDRESS. 

it  No  election,  no  general  expression  of  the  popular  sentiment, 
had  occurred  since  that  in  November,  when  electors  were  chosen, 
and  at  that  the  people,  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  had  de 
cided  against  General  Jackson.  I  could  not  see  how  such  an 
expression  against  him,  could  be  interpreted  into  that  of  a  de 
sire  for  his  election.  If,  as  is  true,  the  candidate  whom  they 
preferred  was  not  returned  to  the  House,  it  is  equally  true  that 
the  state  of  the  contest,  as  it  presented  itself  here  to  me,  had 
never  been  considered,  discussed  and  decided  by  the  people  of 
Kentucky,  in  their  collective  capacity.  What  would  have  beer? 
their  decision  on  this  new  state  of  the  question,  I  might  have 
undertaken  to  conjecture,  but  the  certainty  of  any  conclusion 
of  fact,  as  to  their  opinion,  at  which  I  could  arrive,  was  by  no 
means  equal  to  that  certainty  of  conviction  of  my  duty  to  which, 
I  was  carried  by  the  exertion  of  my  best  and  most  deliberate 
reflections.  The  letters  from  home,  which  some  of  the  delega 
tion  received,  expressed  the  most  opposite  opinions,  and  there 
were  not  wanting  instances  of  letters  from  some  of  the  very 
members  who  had  voted  for  that  resolution,  advising  a  different 
course.  I  received  from  a  highly  respectable  portion  of  my  con 
stituents  a  paper,  instructing  me  as  follows:  "We  the  under 
signed  voters  in  the  Congressional  district,  having  viewed  the 
instruction  or  request  of  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  on  the 
subject  of  choosing  a  President  and  Vice  President  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  with  regret,  arid  the  said  request  or  instruction  to 
our  Representative  in  Congress  from  this  district  being  without 
our  knowledge  or  consent,  we,  for  many  reasons  known  to  our 
selves,  connected  \vith  so  momentous  an  occasion,  hereby  in 
struct  our  Representative  in  Congress  to  vote  on  this  occasion 
agreeably  to  his  own  judgment,  and  by  the  best  lights  he  may 
have  on  the  subject,  with  or  without  the  consent  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  Kentucky."  This  instruction  came  both  unexpectedly 
and  unsolicited  by  me,  and  it  was  accompanied  by  letters  as 
suring  me  that  it  expressed  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  my 
constituents.  I  could  not,  therefore.,  regard  the  resolution  as 
conclusive  evidence  of  your  wishes. 

Viewed  as  a  mere  request,  as  it  purported  to  be,  the  general 
assembly  doubtless  had  the  power  to  make  it.  But,  then,  with 
great  deference,  I  think  it  was  worthy  of  serious  consideration 
whether  the  dignity  of  the  general  assembly  ought  not  to  have 
induced  it  to  forbear  addressing  itself,  not  to  another  legislative 
body,  but  to  a  small  part  of  it,  and  requesting  the  members  who 
composed  that  part,  in  a  case  which  the  constitution  had  con 
fided  to  them,  to  vote  according  to  the  wishes  of  the  general 
assembly,  whether  those  wishes  did  or  did  not  conform  to  their 
sense  of  duty.  I  could  not  regard  the  resolution  as  an  instruc 
tion  ;  for,  from  the  origin  of  our  state,  its  legislature  has  never 
assumed  nor  exercised  the  right  to  instruct  the  representatives 
in  Congress.  I  did  not  recognize  the  right,  therefore,  of  the 
legislature  to  instruct  me.  I  recognized  that  right  only  when 


ADDRESS.  481 

exerted  by  you.  That  the  portion  of  the  public  servants  who 
made  up  the  general  assembly  have  no  right  to  instruct  that 
portion  of  them  who  constituted  the  Kentucky  delegation  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  is  a  proposition  too  clear  to  be  ar 
gued.  The  members  of  the  general  assembbly  would  have 
been  the  first  to  behold  as  a  presumptuous  interposition,  any  in 
struction,  if  the  Kentucky  delegation  could  have  committed  the 
absurdity  to  issue,  from  this  place,  any  instruction  to  them  to 
vote  in  a  particular  manner  on  any  of  the  interesting  subjects 
which  lately  engaged  their  attention  at  Frankfort.  And  al 
though  nothing  is  further  from  my  intention  than  to  impute 
either  absurdity  or  presumption  to  the  general  assembly,  the 
adoption  of  the  resolution  referred  to,  I  must  say,  that  the  differ 
ence  between  an  instruction  emanating  from  them  to  the  dele 
gation,  and  from  the  delegation  to  them,  is  not  in  principle,  but 
is  lo  be  found  only  in  the  degree  of  superior  importance  which 
belongs  to  the  general  assembly. 

Entertaining  these  views  of  the  election  on  which  it  was  made 
my  duty  to  vote,  I  felt  myself  bound,  in  the  exercise  of  my  best 
judgment,  to  prefer  Mr.  Adams ;  and  I  accordingly  voted  for 
him.  I  should  have  been  highly  gratified  if  it  had  not  been  my 
duty  to  vote  on  the  occasion;  but  that  was  not  my  situation,  and 
I  did  not  choose  to  shrink  from  any  responsibility  which  apper 
tained  to  your  representative.  Shortly  after  the  election,  it  was 
•umored  that  Mr.  Kremer  was  preparing  a  publication,  and  the 
preparations  for  it  which  were  making  excited  much  expectation. 
Accordingly,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  February,  the  address, 
under  his  name,  to  the  "  Electors  of  the  Ninth  Congressional 
District  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,"  made  its  appearance  in 
the  Washington  City  Gazette.  No  member  of  the  house,  I  am 
persuaded,  believed  that  Mr.  Kremer  wrote  one  paragraph  of 
that  address,  or  of  the  plea,  which  was  presented  to  the  commit 
tee,  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  house.  Those  who  counselled  him, 
and  composed  both  papers,  and  their  purposes,  were  just  as  well 
known  as  the  author  of  any  report  from  a  committee  to  the 
house.  The  first  observation  which  is  called  for  by  the  address 
is  the  place  of  its  publication.  That  place  was  in  this  city,  re 
mote  from  the  centre  of  Pennsylvania,  near  which  Mr.  Kremer's 
district  is  situated,  and  in  a  paper  having  but  a  very  limited,  if 
any  circulation  in  it.  The  time  is  also  remarkable.  The  fact 
that  the  President  intended  to  nominate  me  to  the  senate  for  the 
office  which  I  now  hold,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  was  then 
well  known,  and  the  publication  of  the  address  was,  no  doubt, 
made  less  with  an  intention  to  communicate  information  to  the 
electors  of  the  ninth  Congressional  District  of  Pennsylvania, 
than  to  affect  the  decision  of  the  Senate  on  the  intended  nomina 
tion.  Of  the  character  and  contents  of  that  address  of  Messrs. 
George  Kremer  &  Co.,  made  up,  as  it  is,  of  assertion  without 
proof,  of  inferences  without  premises,  and  of  careless,  jocose,  and 
41 


482  ADDRESS. 

quizzing  conversations  of  some  of  my  friends,  to  which  I  was  no 
party,  and  of  which  I  had  never  heard,  it  is  not  my  intention  to 
say  much.  It  carried  its  own  refutation,  and  the  parties  con 
cerned  saw  its  abortive  nature  the  next  day,  in  the  indignant 
countenance  of  every  unprejudiced  and  honorable  member.  In 
his  card,  Mr.  Kremer  had  been  made  to  say,  that  he  held  him 
self  ready  "to  prove,  to  the  satisfaction  of  unprejudiced  minds, 
enough  to  satisfy  them  of  the  accuracy  of  the  statements  which 
are  contained  in  that  letter,  to  the  extent  that  they  concern  the 
course  of  conduct  of  II.  Clay"  The  object  for  excluding  my 
friends  from  this  pledge  has  been  noticed.  But  now  the  election 
was  decided,  and  there  no  longer  existed  a  motive  for  discrimin 
ating  between  them .  and  me.  Hence  the  only  statements  that 
are  made,  in  the  address,  having  the  semblance  of  proof,  relate 
rather  to  them  than  to  rne ;  and  the  design  was,  by  establishing 
something  like  facts  upon  them,  to  make  those  facts  react  upon 
me. 

Of  the  few  topics  of  the  address  upon  which  I  shall  remark, 
the  first  is,  the  accusation,  brought  forward  against  me,  of  vio 
lating  instructions.  If  the  accusation  were  true,  who  was  the 
party  offended,  and  to  whom  was  I  amenable  ?  If  I  violated 
any  instructions,  they  must  have  been  yours,  since  you  only  had 
the  right  to  give  them,  and  to  you  alone  was  I  responsible. 
Without  allowing  hardly  time  for  you  to  hear  of  my  vote,  with 
out  waiting  to  know  what  your  judgment  was  of  my  conduct, 
George  Kremer  &  Co.  chose  to  arraign  me  before  the  American 
public  as  the  violator  of  instructions  which  I  was  bound  to  obey. 
If,  instead  of  being,  as  you  are,  and  I  hope  always  will  be,  vigi 
lant,  observers  of  the  conduct  of  your  public  agents,  jealous  of 
your  rights,  and  competent  to  protect  and  defend  them,  you  had 
been  ignorant  and  culpably  confiding,  the  gratuitous  interposi 
tion,  as  your  advocate,  of  the  honorable  George  Kremer,  of  the 
ninth  Congressional  District  in  Pennsylvania,  would  have  merit 
ed  your  most  grateful  acknowledgments.  Even  upon  that  sup 
position,  his  arraignment  of  me  would  have  required  for  its  sup 
port  one  small  circumstance,  which  happens  not  to  exist,  and 
that  is,  the  fact  of  your  having  actually  instructed  me  to  vote 
according  to  his  pleasure. 

The  relations  in  which  I  stood  to  Mr.  Adams  constitute  the 
next  theme  of  the  address,  which  I  shall  notice.  I  am  described 
as  having  assumed  "a  position  of  peculiar  and  decided  hostility 
to  the  election  of  Mr.  Adarns,"  and  expressions  towards  him  are 
attributed  to  me,  which  I  never  used.  I  am  made  also  responsi 
ble  for  "  pamphlets  and  essays  of  great  ability,"  published  by  my 
friends  in  Kentucky  in  the  course  of  the  canvass.  The  injustice 
of  the  principle  of  holding  me  thus  answerable,  may  be  tested 
by  applying  it  to  the  case  of  General  Jackson,  in  reference  to 
publications  issued,  for  example,  from  the  Columbia  Observer. 
That  1  was  not  in  favor  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams,  when  the 
contest  was  before  the  people,  is  most  certain.  Neither  was  I 


ADDRESS.  483 

in  favor  of  that  of  Mr.  Crawford  or  General  Jackson.  That  I 
ever  did  any  thing  against  Mr.  Adams,  or  either  of  the  other 
gentlemen,  inconsistent  with  a  fair  and  honorable  competition,  I 
utterly  deny.  My  relations  to  Mr.  Adams  have  been  the  sub 
ject  of  much  misconception,  if  not  misrepresentation.  I  have 
been  stated  to  be  under  a  public  pledge  to  expose  some  nefari 
ous  conduct  of  that  gentleman,  during  the  negotiation  at.  Ghent,. 
which  would  prove  him  to  be  entirely  unworthy  of  public  confi 
dence  ;  and  that  with  a  knowledge  of  his  perfidy,  I  nevertheless 
voted  for  him.  If  these  imputations  are  well  founded,  I  should, 
indeed,  be  a  fit  object  for  public  censure;  but  if,  on  the  contrary, 
it  shall  be  found  that  others,  inimical  both  to  him  and  to  me, 
have  substituted  their  own  interested  wishes  for  my  public  pro 
mises,  I  trust  that  the  indignation,  which  they  would  excite,  will 
be  turned  from  me.  My  letter,  addressed  to  the  editors  of  the 
Intelligencer,  under  date  of  the  fifteenth  of  November,  1822,  is 
made  the  occasion  for  ascribing  to  me  the  promise  and  the 
pledge  to  make  those  treasonable  disclosures  on  Mr.  Adams. 
Let  that  letter  speak  for  itself,  and  it  will  be  seen'  how  little  jus 
tification  there  is  for  such  an  assertion.  It  adverts  to  the  con 
troversy  which  had  arisen  between  Messrs.  Adams  and  Russell, 
and  then  proceeds  to  state  that,  "  in  the  course  of  several  publi 
cations,  of  which  it  has  been  the  occasion,  and,  particularly  in 
the  appendix  to  a  pamphlet  which  had  been  recently  published 
by  the  Hon.  John  Q,uincy  Adams,  I  think  there  are  some  errors, 
no  doubt  unintentional,  both  as  to  matters  of  fact  and  matters  of 
opinion,  in  regard  to  the  transactions  at  Ghent,  relating  to  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and  certain  liberties  claimed  by 
the  United  States  in  the  fisheries,  and  to  the  part  which  I  bore 
in  tlwse  transactions.  These  important  interests  are  now  well 
secured,"—"  An  account,  therefore,  of  what  occurred  in  the  ne 
gotiation  at  Ghent,  on  those  two  subjects,  is  not,  perhaps,  neces 
sary  to  the  present  or  future  security  of  any  of  the  rights  of  the 
nation,  and  is  only  interesting  as  appertaining  to  its  past  history. 
With  these  impressions,  and  being  extremely  unwilling  to  pre 
sent  myself,  at  any  time,  before  the  public,  I  had  almost  resolved 
to  remain  silent,  and  thus  expose  myself  to  the  inference  of  an 
acquiescence  in  the  correctness  of  all  the  statements  made  by 
both  my  colleagues ;  but  I  have,  on  more  reflection,  thought  it 
may  be  expected  of  me,  and  be  considered  as  a  duty  on  my 
part,  to  contribute  all  in  my  power  towards  a  full  and  faithful 
understanding  of  the  transactions  referred  to.  Under  this  con 
viction,  I  will,  at  some  future  period,  more  propitious  than  the 
present  to  calm  and  dispassionate  consideration,  and  when  there 
can  be  no  misinterpretation  of  motives,  lay  before  the  public  a 
narrative  of  those  transactions,  as  I  understood  them." 

From  even  a  careless  perusal  of  that  letter,  it  is  apparent,  that 
the  only  two  subjects  of  the  negotiations  at  Ghent,  to  which  it 
refers,  were  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and  certain  fishing 
liberties ;  that  the  errors,  which  I  had  supposed  were  committed. 


484  ADDRESS. 

applied  to  both  Mr.  Russell  and  Mr.  Adams,  though  more  par 
ticularly  to  the  appendix  of  the  latter ;  that  they  were  uninten 
tional  ;  that  they  affected  myself  principally ;  that  I  deemed 
them  of  no  public  importance,  as  connected  with  the  then,  or 
future,  security  of  any  of  the  rights  of  the  nation,  but  only  inter- 
resting  to  its  past  history;  that  I  doubted  the  necessity  of  my 
offering  to  the  public  any  account  of  those  transactions ;  and 
that  the  narrative  which  I  promised  was  to  be  presented  at  a 
season  of  more  calm,  and  when  there  could  be  no  misinterpreta 
tion  of  motives.  Although  Mr.  Adams  believes  otherwise,  I  yet 
think  there  are  some  unintentional  errors,  in  the  controversial 
papers  between  him  and  Mr.  Russell.  But  I  have  reserved  to 
myself  an  exclusive  right  of  judging  when  I  shall  execute  the 
promise  which  I  have  made,  and  I  shall  be  neither  quickened 
nor  retarded  in  its  performance,  by  the  friendly  anxieties  of  any 
of  my  opponents. 

If  injury  accrue  to  any  one  by  the  delay  in  publishing  the  nar 
rative,  the  public  will  not  suffer  by  it.  It  is  already  known  by  the 
publication  of  the  British  and  American  projets,  the  protocols, 
and  the  correspondence  between  the  respective  plenipotentiaries, 
that  the  British  government  made  at  Ghent  a  demand  of  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  by  an  article  in  their  projet  nearly 
in  the  same  words  as  those  which  were  employed  in  the  treaty 
of  1783;  that  a  majority  of  the  American  commissioners  was  in 
favor  of  acceding  to  that  demand,  upon  the  condition  that  tho 
British  government  would  concede  to  us  the  same  fishing  liber 
ties,  within  their  jurisdiction,'  as  were  secured  to  us  by  the  same 
treaty  of  1783  ;  and  that  both  demands  were  finally  abandoned. 
The  fact  of  these  mutual  propositions  was  communicated  by  me 
to  the  American  public  in  a  speech  which  I  delivered  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  January, 
1816.  Mr.  Hopkinson  had  arraigned  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  of 
peace,  and  charged  upon  the  war  and  the  administration,  the 
loss  of  the  fishing  liberties,  within  the  British  jurisdiction,  which 
we  enjoyed  prior  to  the  war.  In  vindicating,  in  my  reply  to 
him,  the  course  of  the  government,  and  the  conditions  of  the 
peace.  I  stated : 

"  When  the  British  commissioners  demanded,  in  their  projet, 
a  renewal  to  Great  Britain  of  the  right  to  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi,  secured  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  a  bare  majority  of  the 
American  commissioners  offered  to  renew  it,  upon  the  condition 
that  the  liberties  in  question  were  renewed  to  us.  He  was  not 
one  of  that  majority.  He  would  not  trouble  the  committee  with 
his  reasons  for  being  opposed  to  the  offer.  A  majority  of  his 
colleagues,  actuated,  he  believed,  by  the  best  motives,  made, 
however,  the  offer,  and  it  was  refused  by  the  British  commis 
sioners."  [See  Daily  National  Intelligencer,  of  the  twenty-first 
of  March,  1816.]  And  what  I  thought  of  my  colleagues  of  the 
majority,  appears  from  the  same  extract.  The  spring  after  the 
termination  of  the  negotiations  at  Ghent,  I  went  to  London,  and 


ADDRESS.  485 

.    •  .        .'•>'•».'     j ,"•         :   *  '^  ~~-  .  ',  j  .'  .>.   '• 

entered  upon  a  new  and  highly  important  negotiation  with  two 
of  them,  (Messrs.  Adams  and  Gallatin,)  which  resulted,  on  the 
third  day  of  July,  1815,  in  the  commercial  convention,  which 
has  been  since  made  the  basis  of  most  of  our  commercial  ar 
rangements  with  foreign  powers.  Now,  if  I  had  discovered  at 
Ghent,  as  has  been  asserted,  that  either  of  them  was  false  and 
faithless  to  his  country,  would  I  have  voluntarily  commenced 
with  them  another  negotiation  ?  Further :  there  never  has  been 
a  period,  during  our  whole  acquaintance,  that  Mr.  Adams  and  I 
have  not  exchanged  when  we  have  met,  friendly  salutations,  and 
the  courtesies  and  hospitalities  of  social  intercourse. 

The  address  proceeds  to  characterize  the  support  which  I 
gave  to  Mr.  Adams  as  unnatural.  The  authors  of  the  address 
have  not  stated  why  it  is  unnatural,  and  we  are  therefore  left  to 
conjecture  their  meaning.  Is  it  because  Mr.  Adams  is  from 
New  England,  and  I  am  a  citizen  of  the  west?  If  it  be  unna 
tural  in  the  western  states  to  support  a  citizen  of  New  England, 
it  must  be  equally  unnatural  in  the  New  England  states  to  sup 
port  a  citizen  of  the  west.  And,  on  the  same  principle,  the  New 
England  states  ought  to  be  restrained  from  concurring  in  the 
election  of  a  citizen  in  the  southern  states,  or  the  southern  states 
from  co-operating  in  the  election  of  a  citizen  of  New  England. 
And,  consequently,  the  support  which  the  last  three  Presidents 
have  derived  from  New  England,  and  that  which  the  Vice-Pre- 
sident  recently  received,  has  been  most  unnaturally  given.  The 
tendency  of  such  reasoning  would  be  to  denationalize  us,  and  to 
contract  every  part  of  the  Union,  within  the  narrow,  selfish  limits 
of  its  own  section.  It  would  be  still  worse ;  it  would  lead  to  the 
destruction  of  the  Union  itself.  For  if  it  be  unnatural  in  one 
section  to  support  a  citizen  in  another,  the  Union  itself  must  be 
unnatural;  all  our  ties,  all  our  glories,  all  that  is  animating  in 
the  past,  all  that  is  bright  and  cheering  in  the  future,  must  be 
unnatural.  Happily,  such  is  the  admirable  texture  of  our  Union, 
that  the  interests  of  all  its  parts  are  closely  interwoven.  If  there 
are  strong  points  of  affinity  between  the  south  and  the  west, 
there  are  interests  of  not  less,  if  not  greater,  strength  and  vigor, 
binding  the  west,  and  the  north,  and  the  east. 

Before  I  close  this  address,  it  is  my  duty,  which  I  proceed  to 
perform  with  great  regret,  on  account  of  the  occasion  which 
calls  for  it,  to  invite  your  attention  to  a  letter,  addressed  by  Gen 
eral  Jackson  to  Mr.;Swartwout,  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  Feb 
ruary  last.  The  names  of  both  the  General  and  myself  had 
been  before  the  American  public  for  its  highest  office.  We  had 
both  been  unsuccessful.  The  unfortunate  have  usually  some 
sympathy  for  each  other.  For  myself,  I  claim  no  merit  for  the 
cheerful  acquiescence  which  I  have  given  in  a  result  by  which 
I  was  excluded  from  the  House.  I  have  believed  that  the  de 
cision  by  the  constituted  authorities,  in  favor  of  others,  has  been 
founded  upon  a  conviction  of  the  superiority  of  their  preten- 
41* 


4S6  ADDRESS. 

siong.  It  has  been  my  habit,  when  an  election  is  once  decided, 
to  forget,  as  soon  as  possible,  all  the  irritating  circumstances 
which  attended  the  preceding  canvass.  If  one  be  successful,  he 
should  be  content  with  his  success.  If  he  have  lost  it,  railing 
will  do  no  good.  I  never  gave  General  Jackson  nor  his  friends 
any  reason  to  believe  that  I  would,  in  any  contingency,  support 
him.  He  had,  as  I  thought,  no  public  claim,  and,  I  will  now 
add,  no  personal  claims,  if  these  ought  to  be  ever  considered,  to 
my  support.  No  one,  therefore,  ought  to  have  been  disappointed 
or  chagrined  that  I  did  not  vote  for  him,  no  more  than  I  was 
neither  surprised  nor  disappointed  that  he  did  not,  on  a  more 
recent  occasion,  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to  vote  for  me.  After  com 
menting  upon  a  particular  phrase  used  in  my  letter  to  Judge 
Brooke,  a  calm  reconsideration  of  which  will,  I  think,  satisfy  any 
person  that  it  was  not  employed  in  an  offensive  sense,  if  indeed 
it  have  an  offensive  sense,  the  General,  in  his  letter  to  Mr. 
Swartwout,  proceeds  to  remark:  "No  one  beheld  me  seeking, 
through  art  or  management,  to  entice  any  Representative  in 
Congress  from  a  conscientious  responsibility  of  his  own,  or  the 
wishes  of  his  constituents.  No  midnight  taper  burnt  by  me ; 
no  secret  conclaves  were  held,  nor  cabals  entered  into  to  per 
suade  any  one  to  a  violation  of  pledges  given,  or  of  instructions 
received.  By  me  no^  plans  were  concerted  to  impair  the  pure 
principles  of  our  republican  institutions,  nor  to  prostrate  that 
fundamental  maxim  which  maintains  the  supremacy  of  the  peo 
ple's  will.  On  the  contrary,  having  never  in  any  manner,  before 
the  people  or  Congress,  interfered  in  the  slightest  degree  with 
the  question,  my  conscience  stands  void  of  offence,  and  will  go 
quietly  with  me,  regardless  of  -the  insinuations  of  those  who, 
through  management,  may  seek  an  influence  not  sanctioned  by 
integrity  and  "merit."  I  am  not  aware  'that  this  defence  of  him 
self  was  rendered  necessary  by  any  charges  brought  forward 
against  the  General.  Certainly  I  never  made  any  such  charges 
against  him.  I  will  not  suppose  that,  in  the  passages  cited,  he 
intended  to  impute  to  me  the  misconduct  which  he  describes, 
and  yet  taking  the  whole  context  of  his  letter  together,  and 
coupling1  it  with  Mr.  Krerner's  address,  it  'cannot  be  disguised 
that  others  may  suppose  he  intended  to  refer  to  me.  I  am  quite 
sure  that,  if  he  did,  he  could  not  have  formed  those 'unfavorable 
opinions  of  me  upon  any  personal  observation  of  my  conduct 
made  by  himself;  for.  a  supposition  that  they  were  founded  upon 
his  own  knowledge,  would  imply  that  my  lodgings  and  my  per 
son  had  been  subjected  to  a  system  of  espionage  wholly  incom 
patible  with  the  open,  manly  and  honorable  conduct  of  a  gallant 
soldier.  If  he  designed  any  insinuations  against  me,  I  must  be 
lieve  that  he  made  them  upon  the  information  of  others,  of  whom 
I  can  only  say  that  they  have  deceived  his  credulity,  and  are 
entirely  unworthy  of  all  credit.  I  entered  into  no  cabals;  I  held 
no  secret  conclaves;  I  enticed  no  man  to  violate  pledges  given 
or  instructions  received.  The  members  from  Ohio,  and  from  the 


ADDRESS.  487 

other  western  states,  with  whorti  I  voted,  were  all  of  them  as 
competent  as  I  was  to  form  an  opinion  on  the  pending  election. 
The  McArthurs  and  the  Metcalfes,  and  the  other  gentlemen 
from  the  west,  (some  of  whom  have,  if  I  have  not,  bravely 
"made  an  effort  to  repel  an  invading  foe,")  are  as  incapable  of 
dishonor  as  any  men  breathing — as  disinterested,  as  unambi 
tious,  as  exclusively  devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  their  country. 
It  was  quite  as  likely  that  I  should  be  influenced  -by  them,  aa 
that  I  could  control  their  votes.  Our  object  was  not  to  impair, 
but  to  preserve  from  all  danger,  the  purity  of  our  republican 
institutions.  And  how  I  prostrated  the  maxim  which  maintains 
the  supremacy  of  the  people's  will,  I  am  entirely  at  a  loss  to 
comprehend.  The  illusions  of  the  General's  imagination  deceive 
him.  The  people  of  the  United  States  had  never  decided  the 
election  in  his  favor.  If  the  people  had  willed  his  election,  he 
would  have  been  elected.  It  was  because  they  had  not  willed 
his  election,  nor  that  of  any  other  candidate,  that  the  duty  of 
making  a  choice  devolved  on  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  General  remarks;  "Mr.  Clay  has  never  yet  risked  him 
self  for  his  country.  He  has  never  sacrificed  his  repose,  nor 
made  an  effort  to  repel  an  invading  foe;  of  course  his  conscience 
assured  him  it  was  altogether  wrong  in  any  other  man  to  lead 
his  countrymen  to  battle  and  victory."  The  logic  of  this  con 
clusion  is  not  very  striking.  General  Jackson  fights  better  than 
he  reasons.  When  have  I  failed  to  concur  in  awarding  appro 
priate  honors  to  those  who,  on  the  sea  or  on  the  land,  have  sus 
tained  the  glory  of  our  arms,  if  I  could  not  always  approve  of 
the  acts  of  some  of  them  ?  It  is  true,  that  it  has  been  my  mis 
fortune  never  to  have  repelled  an  invading  foe,  nor  to  have  led 
my  countrymen  to  victory.  If  I  had,  I  should  have  left  to  others 
to  proclaim  and  appreciate  the  deed.  The  General's  destiny 
and  mine  have  led  us  in  different  directions.  In  the  civil  em 
ployments  of  my  country,  to  which  I  have  been  confined.  I  regret 
that  the  little  service  which  I  have  been  able  to  render  it  falls 
far  short  of  my  wishes.  But  why  this  denunciation  of  those 
who  have  not  repelled  an  invading  foe,  or  led  our  armies  to 
victory?  At  the  very  moment  when  he  is  inveighing  against 
an  objection,  to  the  election  to  the  Presidency,  founded  upon  the 
exclusive  military  nature  of  his  merits,  does  he  not  perceive  that 
he  is  establishing  its  validity  by  proscribing  every  man  who  has 
not  successfully  fought  the  public  enemy?  And  that,  by  such  a 
general  proscription,  and  the  requirement  of  successful  military 
service  as  the  only  condition  of  civil  preferment,  the  inevitable 
effect  would  be  the  ultimate  establishment  of  a  military  govern 
ment? 

If  the  contents  of  the  letter  to  Mr.  Swartwout  were  such  as 
justly  to  excite  surprise,  there  were  other  circumstances  not  cal 
culated  to  diminish  it.  Of  all  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
that  gentleman  is  one  of  the  last  to  whom  it  was  necessary  to 
address  any  vindication  of  General  Jackson.  He  had  given 


488  ADDRESS. 

abundant  evidence  of  his  entire  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the 
General.  He  was  here  after  the  election,  and  was  one  of  a 
committee  who  invited  the  General  to  a  public  dinner,  proposed 
to  be  given  to  him  in  this  place.  My  Tetter  to  Judge  Brooke 
was  published  in  the  papers  of  this  city  on  the  twelfth  of  Feb 
ruary.  The  General's  note,  declining  the  invitation  of  Messrs. 
Swartwout  and  others,  was  published  on  the  fourteenth,  in  the 
National  Journal.  The  probability  therefore  is,  that  he  did  not 
leave  this  city  until  after  he  had  a  full  opportunity  to  receive,  in  a 
personal  interview  with  the  General,  any  verbal  observations 
upon  it  which  he  might  have  thought  proper  to  make.  The  letter 
to  Mr,  Swartwout  bears  date  the  twenty-third  of  February.  If 
received  by  him  in  New- York,  it  must  have  reached  him,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  the  mail,  on  the  twenty-fifth  or  twenty-sixth. 
Whether  intended  or  not  as  a  "private  communication,"  and 
not  for  the  "public  eye/'  as  alledged  by  him,  there  is  much 
probability  in  believing  that  its  publication  in  New-Yo.-k,  on  the 
fourth  of  March,  was  then  made,  like  Mr.  Krem.er's  address, 
with  the  view  to  its  arrival  in  this  city  in  time  to  affect  my  nomi 
nation  to  the  Senate.  In  point  of  fact,  it  reached  here  the  day 
before  the  Senate  acted  on  that  nomination. 

Fellow-citizens,  I  am  sensible  that,  generally,  a  public  officer 
had  better  abstain  from  any  vindication  of  his  conduct,  and 
leave  it  to  the  candor  and  justice  of  his  countrymen,  under  all 
its  attending  circumstances.  Such  has  been  the  course  which  I 
have  heretofore  prescribed  to  myself.  This  is  the  first,  as  I 
hope  it  may  be  the  last,  occasion  of  my  thus  appearing  before 
you.  The  separation  which  has  just  taken  place  between  us, 
and  the  venom,  if  not  the  vigor,  of  the  late  onsets  upon  my  pub 
lic  conduct,  will,  I  hope,  be  allowed  in  this  instance  to  form  an 
adequate  apology.  It  has  been  upwards  of  twenty  years  since 
I  first  entered  the  public  service.  Nearly  three-fourths  of  that 
time,  with  some  intermissions,  I  have  represented  the  same  dis 
trict  in  Congress,  with  but  little  variation  in  its  form.  During 
that  long  period,  you  have  beheld  our  country  passing  through 
scenes  of  peace  and  war,  of  prosperity  and  adversity,  and  of 
party  divisions,  local  and  general,  often  greatly  exasperated 
against  each  other.  I  have  been  an  actor  in  most  of  those 
scenes.  Throughout,  the  whole  of  them  you  have  clung  to  me 
with  an  affectionate  confidence  which  has  never  been  surpassed. 
I  have  found  in  your  attachment,  in  every  embarrassment  in  my 
public  career,  the  greatest  consolation,  and  the  most  encouraging 
support.  I  should  regard  the  loss  of  it  as  one  of  the  most  af 
flicting  public  misfortunes  which  could  befal  me.  That  I  have 
often  misconceived  your  true  interests,  is  highly  probable.  That 
I  have  ever  sacrificed  them  to  the  object  of  personal  aggran 
dizement,  I  utterly  deny.  And,  for  the  purity  of  my  motives, 
however  in  other  respects  I  may  be  unworthy  to  approach  the 
Throne  of  Grace  and  Mercy,  I  appeal  to  the  justice  of  my  God, 
with  all  the  confidence  which  can  flow  from  a  consciousness  of 
perfect  rectitude.  H.  CLAY. 


SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA.  489 

SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA. 

July  10,  1840. 

Mr.  Clay  rose  and  addressed  the  company  substantially  ae 
follows : 

I  think,  friends  and  fellow  citizens,  that  availing  myself  of  the 
privilege  of  my  long  service  in  the  public  councils,  just  adverted 
to,  the  resolution,  which  I  have  adopted,  is  not  unreasonable,  of 
leaving  to  younger  men,  generally,  the  performance  of  the  duty,, 
and  the  enjoyment  of  the  pleasure,  of  addressing  the  people  in 
their  primary  assemblies.  After  the  event  which  occurred  last 
winter  at  the  capital  of  Pennsylvania,  I  believed  it  due  to  myself, 
to  the  Whig  cause,  and  to  the  country,  to  announce  to  the  pub 
lic,  with  perfect  truth  and  sincerity,  and  without  any  reserve,  my 
fixed  determination  heartily  to  support  the  nomination  of  William 
Henry  Harrison,  there  made.  To  put  down  all  misrepreseLta- 
tions,  I  have,  on  suitable  occasions,  repeated  this  annunciation; 
and  now  declare  my  solemn  conviction  that  the  purity  and  secu 
rity  of  our  free  institutions,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  country  im 
peratively  demand  the  election  of  that  citizen  to  the  office  of 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States. 

But  the  occasion  forms  an  exception  from  the  rule  which  I 
have  prescribed  to  myself.  I  have  come  here  to  the  county  cf 
my  nativity  in  the  spirit  of  a  pilgrim,  to  meet,  perhaps  for  the 
last  time,  the  companions  and  the  descendants  of  the  companion? 
of  my  youth.  Wherever  we  roam,  in  whatever  climate  or  land 
we  are  cast  by  the  accidents  of  human  life,  beyond  the  mountains 
or  beyond  the  ocean,  in  the  legislative  halls  of  the  capitol,  or  in 
the  retreats  and  shades  of  private  life,  our  hearts  turn  with  an  ir 
resistible  instinct  to  the  cherished  spot  which  ushered  us  into  ex 
istence.  And  we  dwell  with  delightful  associations  on  the  recol 
lection  of  the  streams  in  which,  during  our  boyish  days,  we 
bathed,  the  fountains  at  which  we  drunk,  the  piney  fields,  the 
hills  and  the  valleys  where  we  sported,  and  the  friends  who  shar 
ed  these  enjoyments  with  us.  Alas!  too  many  of  these  friends 
of  mine  have  gone  whither  we  must  all  shortly  go,  and  the  pre 
sence  here  of  the  small  remnant  left  behind  attests  both  our  loss 
and  our  early  attachment.  I  would  greatly  prefer,  my  friends, 
to  employ  the  time  which  this  visit  affords  in  friendly  and  familiar 
conversation  on  the  virtues  of  our  departed  companions,  and  oa 
the  scenes  and  adventures  of  our  younger  days;  but  the  expec 
tation  which  prevails,  the  awful  state  of  our  beloved  country,  aid 
the  opportunities  which  I  have  enjoyed  in  its  public  councils,  im 
pose  on  me  the  obligation  of  touching  on  topics  less  congeiial 
with  the  feelings  of  my  heart,  but  possessing  higher  public  hte- 
rest.  I  assure  you,  fellow  citizens,  however,  that  I  present  my 
self  before  you  for  no  purpose  of  exciting  prejudices  or  inflaming 
passions,  but  to  speak  to  you  in  all  soberness  and  truth,  aad  to 


490  SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA. 

testify  to  the  things  which  I  know,  or  the  convictions  which  I  en 
tertain,  as  an  ancient  friend,  who  has  lived  long  and  whose  ca 
reer  is  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close.  Throughout  an  arduous  life, 
I  have  endeavored  to  make  truth  and  the  good  of  our  country  the 
guides  of  my  public  conduct;  but  in  Hanover  county,  for  which 
/  cherish  sentiments  of  respect,  gratitude  and  veneration,  above 
dl  other  places,  would  I  avoid  saying  any  thing  that  I  did  no', 
sincerely  and  truly  believe. 

Why  is  the  plough  deserted,  the  tools  of  the  mechanic  laid 
aside,  and  all  are  seen  rushing  to  gatherings  of  the  people  '?— 
What  occasions  those  vast  and  unusual  assemblages  which  we 
oehold  in  every  state  and  in  almost  every  neighborhood  ?  Why 
those  conventions  of  the  people,  at  a  common  centre,  from  all  the 
extremities  of  this  vast  Union,  to  consult  together  upon  the  suf 
ferings  of  the  community,  and  to  deliberate  on  the  means  of  de 
liverance?  Why  this  rabid  appetite  for  public  discussions?— 
What  is  the  solution  of  the  phenomenon,  which  we  observe,  of  a 
great  nation,  agitated  upon  its  whole  surface,  and  at  its  lowest 
depths,  like  the  ocean  when  convulsed  by  some  terrible  storm? 
T'.iere  must  be  a  cause,  and  no  ordinary  cause. 
(It  has  been  truly  said,  in  the  most  memorable  document  that 
efer  issued  from  the  pen  of  men,  that "  all  experience  hath  shown 
tlat  mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are  suffer- 
able,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which 
they  are  accustomed."  The  recent  history  of  our  people  furnish 
es  confirmation  of  that  truth.  They  are  active,  enterprising  and 
intelligent;  but  are  not  prone  to  make  groundless  complaints 
Against  public  servants.  If  we  now  every  where  behold  them  in 
notion,  it  is  because  they  feel  that  the  grievances  under  which 
ihey  arewrithins;  can  be  no  longer  tolerated.  They  feel  the  ab 
solute  necessity~of  a  change,  that  no  change  can  render  their 
condition  worse,  and  that  any  change  must  better  it.  This  is  the 
judgment  to  which  they  have  come :  this  the  brief  and  compen 
dious  logic  which  we  daily  hear.  They  know  that,  in  all  the  dis 
pensations  of  Providence,  they  have  reason  to  be  thankful  and 
grateful ;  and  if  they  had  not,  they  would  be  borne  with  fortitude 
and  resignation.  But  there  is  a  pervading  conviction  and  per 
suasion  that,  in  the  administration  of  government,  there  has  been 
something  wrong,  radically  wrong,  and  that  the  vessel  of  state 
has  been  in  the  hands  of  selfish,  faithless  and  unskilful  pilots, 
who  have  conducted  it  amidst  the  breakers. 

In  my  deliberate  opinion,  the  present  distressed  and  distracted 
state  of  the  country  may  be  traced  to  the  single  cause  of  the  ac 
ton,  the  encroachments,  and  the  usurpations  of  the  executive 
blanch  of  the  government.  I  have  not  time  here  to  exhibit  and 
to  dwell  upon  all  the  instances  of  these,  as  they  have  occurred 
in  succession,  during  the  last  twelve  years.  They  have  been 
agcin  and  again  exposed  on  other  more  fit  occasions.  But  I 
hav<3  thought  this  a  proper  opportunity  to  point  out  the  enormity 
of  tke  pretensions,  principles  and  practices  of  that  department, 


SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA.  491 

as  they  have  been,  from  time  to  time,  disclosed  in  these  late 
years,  and  to  show  the  rapid  progress  which  has  been  made  in 
the  fulfilment  of  the  remarkable  language  of  our  illustrious  coun 
tryman,  that  the  federal  executive  had  an  awful  squinting  to 
wards  monarchy.  Here,  in  the  county  of  his  birth,  surrounded 
by  sons,  some  of  whose  sires  with  him  were  the  first  to  raise  their 
arms  in  defence  of  American  liberty  against  a  foreign  monarch, 
is  an  appropriate  place  to  expose  the  impending  danger  of  cre 
ating  a  domestic  monarch.  And  may  I  not,  without  presump 
tion,  indulge  the  hope  that  the  warning  voice  of  another,  although 
far  humbler,  son  of  Hanover  may  not  pass  unheeded  ? 

The  late  President  of  the  United  States  advanced  certain  new 
and  alarming  pretensions  for  the  executive  department  of  the 
government,  the  effect  of  which,  if  established  and  recognised  by 
the  people,  must  inevitably  convert  it  into  a  monarchy.  The 
first  of  these,  and  it  was  a  favorite  principle  with  him,  was,  that 
the  executive  department  should  be  regarded  as  a  unit.  By  this 
principle  of  unity,  he  meant  and  intended  that  all  the  executive 
officers  of  government  should  be  bound  to  obey  the  commands 
and  execute  the  orders  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  anc7 
that  they  should  be  amenable  to  him,  and  he  be  responsible  for 
them.  Prior  to  his  administration,  it  had  been  considered  tliet 
they  were  bound  to  observe  and  obey  the  constitution  and  law.1, 
subject  only  to  the  general  superintendence  of  the  President  aid. 
responible  by  impeachment,  and  to  the  tribunals  of  justice  for  iy- 
juries  inflicted  on  private  citizens. 

But  the  annunciation  of  this  new  and  extraordinary  principle 
was  not  of  itself  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  President  Jackajn  ; 
it  was  essential  that  the  subjection  to  his  will,  which  was  its^b- 
ject,  should  be  secured  by  some  adequate  sanction.  Tha/  he 
sought  to  effect  by  an  extension  of  another  principle,  that  o/dis- 
rnission  from  office,  beyond  all  precedent,  and  to  cases  and  iader 
circumstances  which  would  have  furnished  just  grounds  w"  his 
impeachment,  according  to  the  solemn  opinion  of  Mr.  Mflison 
and  other  members  of  the  first  Congress  under  the  prese/  con 
stitution.  / 

Now,  if  the  whole  official  corps,  subordinate  to  the  P/sident 
of  the  United  States,  are  made  to  know  and  to  feel  that  tl/y  hold 
their  respective  offices  by  the  tenure  of  conformity  and  opdience 
to  his  will,  it  is  manifest  that  they  must  look  to  that  wilj/and  not 
to  the  constitution  and  laws,  as  the  guide  of  their  offjial  con 
duct.  The  weakness  of  human  nature,  the  love  and  enJlumenta 
of  office,  perhaps  the  bread  necessary  to  the  suppor  of  their 
families,  would  make  this  result  absolutely  certain. 

The  development  of  this  new  character  to  the  pof'er  of  dis 
mission  would  have  fallen  short  of  the  aims  in  viqv,  without 
the  exercise  of  it  were  held  to  be  a  prerogative,  fonvhich  the 
President  was  to  be  wholly  irresponsible.  If  he  were  compelled 
to  expose  the  grounds  and  reasons  upon  which  he  afted,  in  dis 
missals  from  office,  the  apprehension  of  public  censure  would 


492  SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA. 

temper  the  arbitrary  nature  of  the  power,  and  throw  some  pro 
tection  around  the  subordinate  officer.  Hence  the  new  and  moil- 
strous  pretension  has  been  advanced,  that  although  the  concur 
rence  of  the  Senate  is  necessary  by  the  constitution  to  the  con 
firmation  of  an  appointment,  the  President  may  subsequently 
dismiss  the  person  appointed,  not  only  without  communicating 
the  grounds  on  which  he  has  acted,  to  the  Senate,  but  without 
any  such  communication  to  the  people  themselves,  for  whoso1; 
benefit  all  offices  are  created !  And  so  bold  and  daring  has  the 
executive  branch  of  the  government  become,  that  one  of  its  cab 
inet  ministers,  himself  a  subordinate  officer,  has  contemptuously 
refused  to  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  disclose 
the  grounds  on  which  he  has  undertaken  to  dismiss  from  office 
persons  acting  as  deputy  postmasters  in  his  department! 

As  to  the  gratuitous  assumption,  by  President  Jackson,  of  re 
sponsibility  for  all  the  subordinate  executive  officers,  it  is  the 
merest  mockery  that  was  ever  put  forth.     They  will  escape  pun 
ishment  by  pleading  his  orders,  and  he  by  alledging  the  hard 
ship  of  being  punished,  not  for  his  own  acts,  but  for  theirs.     We 
have  a  practical  exposition  of  this  principle  in  the  case  of  the 
two  hundred  thousand  militia.     The  secretary  of  war  comes  oai 
to  screen  the  President,  by  testifying  that  he  never  saw  wThat  he 
strongly  recommended ;   and  the    President  reciprocates  that 
favor  by  retaining  the  secretary  in  place,  notwithstanding  he 
has  proposed  a. plan  for  organizing  the  militia  which  is  acknow 
ledged,  to  be  unconstitutional.     If  the  President  is  not  to  be  held 
Tesponsible  for  a  cabinet  minister,  in  daily  intercourse  with  him, 
ipw  is  he  to  be  rendered  so  for  a  receiver  in  Wisconsin  or  Iowa? 
.0  concentrate  all  responsibility  in  the  President,  is  to  annihil- 
Ee  all  responsibility.     For  who  ever  expects  to  see  the  day 
arive  when  a  President  of  the  United  States  will  be  impeached  ; 
o  if  impeached,  when  he  cannot  command  more  than  one-third 
olthe  Senate  to  defeat  the  impeachment  ? 

>ut  to  construct  the  scheme  of  practical  despotism,'  whilst  all 
thtforms  of  free  government  remained,  it  was  necessary  to  take 
om further  step.  By  the  constitution,  the  President  is  enjoined 
to  \ke  care  that  the  laws  be  executed.  This  injunction  was 
meily  intended  to  impose  on  him  the  duty  of  a  general  superiri- 
tenonce ;  to  see  that  offices  were  filled,  officers  at  their  respec 
tive  >osts  in  the  discharge  of  their  official  functions,  and  all  ob- 
strucons  to  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  were  removed,  and, 
whemecessary  for  that  purpose,  to  call  out  the  militia.  No  one 
ever  ftagined  prior  to  the  administration  of  President  Jackson, 
that  aPresident  of  the  United  States  was  to  occupy  himself  with 
supervsing  and  attending  to  the  execution  of  all  the  minute 
details>f  every  one  of  the  hosts  of  offices  in  the  United  States. 

Unde-  the  constitutional  injunction  just  mentioned,  the  late 
Presided  put  forward  that  most  extraordinary  pretension  that 
the  consitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  were  to  be  executed 
as  he  inderstood  them ;  and  this  pretension  was  attempted  to 


SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA.  493 

be  sustained  by  an  argument  equally  extraordinary,  that  the 
President,  being  a  sworn  officer,  must  carry  them  into  effect  ac 
cording  to  his  sense  of  their  meaning.  The  constitution  and 
laws  were  to  be  executed  not  according  to  their  import,  as  hand 
ed  down  to  us  by  our  ancestors,  as  interpreted  by  contemporane 
ous  expositions,  as  expounded  by  concurrent  judicial  decisions, 
as  fixed  by  an  uninterrupted  course  of  Congressional  legislation, 
but  in  that  sense  which  a  President  of  the  United  States  hap 
pened  to  understand  them  ! 

To  complete  this  executive  usurpation,  one  further  object  re 
mained.  By  the  constitution,  the  command  of  the  army  and  the 
navy  is  conferred  on  the  President.  If  he  could  unite  the  purse 
with  the  sword,  nothing  would  be  left  to  gratify  the  insatiable 
thirst  for  power.  In  1838  the  President  seized  the  treasury  of 
the  United  States,  and  from  that  day  to  this,  it  has  continued 
substantially  under  his  control.  The  seizure  was  effected  by  the 
removal  of  one  secretary  of  the  treasury,  understood  to  be  op 
posed  to  the  measure,  and  by  the  dismissal  of  another,  who  re 
fused  to  violate  the  law  of  the  land  upon  the  orders  of  the  Pre 
sident. 

It  is,  indeed,  said  that  not  a  dollar  in  the  treasury  can  be 
touched  without  a  previous  appropriation  by  law,  nor  drawn  out 
of  the  treasury,  without  the  concurrence  and  signature  of  the 
secretary,  the  treasurer,  the  register,  and  the  comptroller.  But 
are  not  all  these  pretended  securities  idle  and  unavailing  forms  ? 
We  have  seen  that,  by  the  operation  of  the  irresponsible  power 
of  dismission,  all  those  officers  are  reduced  to  mere  automata, 
absolutely  subjected  to  the  will  of  the  President.  What  resis 
tance  would  any  of  them  make,  with  the  penalty  of  dismission 
suspended  over  their  heads,  to  any  orders  of  the  President,  to 
pour  out  the  treasure  of  the  United  States,  whether  an  act  of 
appropriation  existed  or  not  ?  Do  not  mock  us  with  the  vain 
assurance  of  the  honor  and  probity  of  a  President,  nor  remind 
us  of  the  confidence  which  we  ought  to  repose  in  his  imagined 
virtues.  The  pervading  principles  of  our  system  of  govern 
ments — of  all  free  government — is  not  merely  the  possibility,  but 
the  absolute  certainty  of  infidelity  and  treachery,  with  even  the 
highest  functionary  of  the  state  ;  and  hence  all  the  restrictions, 
securities,  and  guaranties,  which  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors, 
or  the  sad  experience  of  history  had  inculcated,  have  been  de 
vised  and  thrown  around  the  Chief  Magistrate. 

Here,  friends  and  fellow  citizens,  let  us  pause  and  contemplate 
this  stupendous  structure  of  executive  machinery  and  despotism, 
which  has  been  reared  in  our  young  republic.  The  executive 
branch  of  the  government  is  a  unit ;  throughout  all  its  arteries 
and  veins  there  is  to  be  but  one  heart,  one  head,  one  will.  The 
number  of  the  subordinate  executive  officers  and  dependents  in 
the  United  States  has  been  estimated,  in  an  official  report, 
founded  on  public  documents,  made  by  a  senator  from  South 
42 


494  SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA. 

Carolina,  (Mr.  Calhoun,)  at  one  hundred  thousand.  Whatever 
it  may  be,  all  of  them,  wherever  they  are  situated,  are  bound 
implicitly  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  President.  An  absolute  obe 
dience  to  his  will  is  secured  and  enforced  by  the  power  of  dis 
missing  them,  at  his  pleasure,  from  their  respective  places.  To 
make  this  terrible  power  of  dismission  more  certain  and  effica 
cious,  its  exercise  is  covered  up  in  mysterious  secrecy,  without 
exposure,  without  the  smallest  responsibility.  The  constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States  are  to  be  executed  in  the  sense 
m  which  the  President  understands  them,  although  that  sense 
may  be  at  variance  with  the  understanding-  of  every  other  man 
in  the  United  States.  It  follows,  as  a  necessary  consequence 
from  the  principles  deduced  by  the  President  from  the  constitu 
tional  injunction  as  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  that,  if  an  act 
of  Congress  be  passed,  in  his  opinion,  contrary  to  the  constitu 
tion,  or  if  a  decision  be  pronounced  by  the  courts,  in  his  opinion 
contrary  to  the  constitution  or  the  laws,  that  act  or  that  decision 
the  President  is  not  obliged  to  enforce,  and  he  could  not  cause  it 
to  be  enforced,  without  a  violation,  as  is  pretended,  of  his  official 
oath.  Candor  requires  the  admission  that  the  principle  has  not 
yet  been  pushed  in  practice  in  these  cases ;  but  it  manifestly 
comprehends  them ;  and  who  doubts  that,  if  the  spirit  of  usur 
pation  is  not  arrested  and  rebuked,  they  will  be  finally  reached  ? 
The  march  of  power  Is  ever  onward.  As  times  and  seasons  ad 
monished,  it  openly  and  boldly  in  broad  day,  makes  its  progress; 
or,  if  alarm  be  excited  by  the  enormity  of  its  pretensions,  it  silent- 
ly  and  secretly,  in  the  dark  of  the  night,  steals  its  devious  \vay. 
It  now  storms  and  mounts  the  ramparts  of  the  fortress  of  liberty  • 
it  now  saps  and  undermines  its  foundations.  Finally,  the  com 
mand  of  the  army  and  navy  being  already  in  the  President,  and 
having  acquired  a  perfect  control  over  the  treasury  of  the  United 
States,  he  has  consummated  that  frightful  union  of  purse  and 
sword,  so  long,  so  much,  so  earnestly  deprecated  by  all  true 
lovers  of  civil  liberty.  And  our  present  Chief  Magistrate  stands 
solemnly  and  voluntarily  pledged,  in  the  face  of  the  whole  world 
to  follow  in  the  footsteps  and  carry  out  the  measures  and  the 
principles  of  his  illustrious  predecessor  ! 

The  sum  of  the  whole  is,  that  there  is  but  one  power,  one 
control,  one  will  in  the  state.  All  is  concentrated  in  the  Presi 
dent.  He  directs,  orders,  commands  the  whole  machinery  of  the 
state.  Through  the  official  agencies,  scattered  throughout  the 
land,  and  absolutely  subjected  to  his  will,  he  executes,  according 
to  his  pleasure  or  caprice,  the  whole  power  of  the  common 
wealth,  which  has  been  absorbed  and  engrossed  by  him.  And 
one  sole  will  predominates  in,  and  animates  the  whole  of  this 
vast  community.  If  this  be  not  practical  despotism,  I  am  incap 
able  of  conceiving  or  defining  it.  Names  are  nothing.  The  ex 
istence  or  non-existence  of  arbitrary  government  cfoes  not  de 
pend  upon  the  title  or  denomination  bestowed  on  the  chief  of  the 
state,  but  upon  the  quantum  of  power  which  he  possesses  and 


SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA.  495 

wields.  Autocrat,  sultan,  emperor,  dictator,  king  doge,  presi 
dent,  are  all  mere  names,  in  which  the  power  respectively  pos 
sessed  by  them  is  not  to  be  found,  but  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
constitution,  or  the  established  usages  arid  practices  of  the  seve 
ral  states  which  they  govern  and  control.  If  the  autocrat  of 
Russia  were  called  President  of  all  the  Russias,the  actual  power 
remaining  unchanged,  his  authority,  under  his  new  denomina 
tion,  would  continue  undiminished  ;"  and  if  the  President  of  the 
United  States  Avere  to  receive  the  title  of  autocrat  of  the  United 
States,  the  amount  of  his  authority  would  not  be  increased, 
without  an  alteration  of  the  constitution. 

General  Jackson  was  a  bold  and  fearless  reaper,  carrying  a 
wide  row,  but  he  did  not  gather  the  whole  harvest ;  he  left  some 
gleanings  to  his  faithful  successor,  and  he  seems  resolved  to 
sweep  clean  the  field  of  power.  The  duty  of  inculcating  on  the 
official  corps  the  active  exertion  of  their  personal  and  official  in 
fluence  was  left  by  him  to  be  enforced  by  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  all 
popular  elections.  It  was  not  sufficient  that  the  official  corps 
was  bound  implicitly  to  obey  the  will  of  the  President.  It  was 
not  sufficient  that  this  obedience  was  coerced  by  the  tremendous 
power  of  dismission.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  this  corps 
might  be  beneficially  employed  to  promote,  in  other  matters  than 
the  business  of  their  offices,* the  views  and  interests  of  the  Pre 
sident  and  his  party.  They  are  far  more  efficient  than  any 
standing  army  of  equal  numbers.  A  standing  army  would  be 
separated,  and  stand  out  from  the  people,  would  be  an  object  of 
jealousy  and  suspicion;  and,  being  always  in  corps,  or  in  de 
tachments,  could  exert  no  influence  on  popular  elections.  But 
the  official  corps  is  dispersed  throughout  the  country,  in  every 
town,  village,  and  city,  mixing  with  the  people,  attending  their 
meetings  and  conventions,  becoming  chairmen  and  members  of 
committees,  and  urging  and  stimulating  partizans  to  active  and 
vigorous  exertion.  Acting  in  concert,  and  throughout  the  whole 
Union,  obeying  orders  issued  from  the  centre,  their  influence, 
aided  by  executive  patronage,  by  the  post-office  department,  and 
all  the  vast  other  means  of  the  executive,  is  almost  irresistable. 

To  correct  this  procedure,  and  to  restrain  the  subordinates  of 
the  executive  from  all  interference  with  popular  elections,  my 
colleague,  (Mr.  Crittenden,)  now  present,  introduced  a  bill  in  the 
Senate.  He  had  the  weight  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  opinion,  who  is 
sued  a  circular  to  restrain  federal  officers  from  intermeddling  in 
popular  elections.  He  had  before  him  the  British  example,  ac 
cording  to  which  place  men  and  pensioners  were  not  only  for 
bidden  to  interfere,  but  were  not,  some  of  them,  even  allowed  to 
vote  at  popular  elections.  But  his  bill  left  them  free  to  exercise 
the  elective  franchise,  prohibiting  only  the  use  of  their  official  in 
fluence.  And  how  was  this  bill  received  in  the  Senate  ?  Passed, 
by  those  who  profess  to  admire  the  character  and  to  pursue  the 
principles  of  Mr.  Jefferson  ?  No  such  thing.  It  was  denounced 
as  a  sedition  bill.  And  the  just  odium  of  that  sedition  bill,  which 


496  SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA. 

was  intended  to  protect  office  holders  against  the  people,  was 
successfully  used  to  defeat  a  measure  of  protection,  of  the  people 
against  the  office  holders  !  Not  only  were  they  left  unrestrained, 
but  they  were  urged  and  stimulated  by  an  official  report  to  em 
ploy  their  influence  in  behalf  of  the  administration  at  the  elec 
tions  of  the  people. 

Hitherto,  the  army  and  the  navy  have  remained  unaffected  by 
the  power  of  dismission,  and  they  have  not  been  called  into  the 
political  service  of  the  executive.  But  no  attentive  observer  of 
the  principles  and  proceedings  of  the  men  in  power  could  fail  to 
see  that  the  day  was  not  distant  when  they,  too,  would  be  requir 
ed  to  perform  the  partisan  offices  of  the  President.  Accordingly, 
the  process  of  converting  them  into  executive  instruments  has 
commenced  in  a  court  martial  assembled  at  Baltimore.  Two 
officers  of  the  army  of  the  United  States  have  been  there  put 
upon  their  solemn  trial,  on  the  charge  of  prejudicing  the  demo 
cratic  party  by  making  purchases  for  the  supply  of  the  army  from 
members  of  the  Whig  party !  It  is  not  pretended  that  the  Uni 
ted  States  were  prejudiced  by  those  purchases ;  on  the  contrary, 
it  was  I  believe,  established  that  they  were  cheaper  than  could 
have  been  made  from  the  supporters  of  the  administration.  But 
the  charge  was,  that  to  purchase  at  all  from  the  opponents,  in 
stead  of  the  friends,  of  the  administration,  was  an  injury  to  the 
democratic  party,  which  required  that  the  offenders  should  be 
put  upon  their  trial  before  a  court  martial !  And  this  trial  was 
commenced  at  the  instance  of  a  committee  of  a  democratic  conven 
tion,  and.  conducted  and  prosecuted  by  them  !  The  scandalous 
spectacle  is  presented  to  an  enlightened  world  of  the  Chief  Magis 
trate  of  a  great  people  executing  the  orders  of  a  self-created  pow 
er,  organised  within  the  bosom  of  the  state,  and  upon  such  an  ac 
cusation,  arraigning,  before  a  military  tribunal,  gallant  men,  who 
are  charged  with  the  defence  of  the  honor  and  the  interest  of  their 
country,  and  with  bearing  its  eagles  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy! 

But  the  army  and  navy  are  too  small,  and  in  composition  are 
too  patriotic  to  subserve  all  the  purposes  of  this  administration. 
Hence  the  recent  proposition  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  strongly 
recommended  by  the  President,  under  color  of  a  new  organiza 
tion  of  the  militia,  to  create  a  standing  force  of  200,000  men,  an 
amount  which  no  conceivable  foreign  exigency  can  ever  make 
necessary.  It  is  not  my  purpose  now  to  enter  upon  an  examina 
tion  of  that  alarming  and  most  dangerous  plan  of  the  executive 
department  of  the  federal  government-  It  has  justly  excited  a 
burst  of  general  indignation ,  and  no  where  has  the  disapproba 
tion  of  it  been  more  emphatically  expressed  than  in  this  ancient 
and  venerable  commonwealth. 

The  monstrous  project  may  be  described  in  a  few  words.  It 
proposes  to  create  the  force  by  breaking  down  Mason  and  Dix- 
on's  line,  expunging  the  boundaries  of  states ;  melting  them  up 
into  a  confluent  mass,  to  be  subsequently  cut  up  into  ten  military 
parts,  alienates  the  militia  from  its  natural  association,  withdraws 


SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA.  497 

it  from  the  authority  and  command  and  sympathy  of  its  constitu 
tional  officers,  appointed  by  the  states,  puts  it  under  the  command 
of  the  President,  authorises  him  to  cause  it  to  be  trained,  in  pal 
pable  violation  of  the  constitution,  and  subjects  it  to  be  called 
out  from  remote  and  distant  places,  at  his  pleasure,  and  on  occa 
sions  not  warranted  by  the  constitution  ! 

Indefensible  as  this  project  is,  fellow  citizens,  do  not  be  de 
ceived  by  supposing  that  it  has  been  or  will  be  abandoned.  It 
is  a  principle  of  those  who  are  now  in  power  that  an  election  or 
a  re-election  of  the  President  implies  the  sanction  of  the  people 
to  all  the  measures  which  he  had  proposed,  and  all  the  opinions 
which  he  had  expressed,  on  public  affairs,  prior  to  that  event. — 
We  have  seen  this  principle  applied  on  various  occasions.  Let 
Mr.  Van  Buren  be  re-elected  in  November  next,  and  it  will  be 
claimed  that  the  people  have  thereby  approved  of  this  plan  of 
the  Secretary  of  War.  All  entertain  the  opinion  that  it  is  im 
portant  to  train  the  militia  and  render  it  effective  j  and  it  will  be 
insisted,  in  the  contingency  mentioned,  that  the  people  have  de 
monstrated  that  they  approve  of  that  specific  plan.  There  is 
more  reason  to  apprehend  such  a  consequence  from  the  fact  that 
a  committee  of  the  Senate,  to  which  this  subject  was  referred, 
instead  of  denouncing  the  scheme  as  unconstitutional  and  dan 
gerous  to  liberty,  presented  a  labored  apologetic  report,  and  the 
administration  majority  in  that  body  ordered  twenty  thousand 
copies  of  the  apology  to  be  printed  for  circulation  among  the 
people.  I  take  pleasure  in  testifying  that  one  administration 
Senator  had  the  manly  independence  to  denounce,  in  his  place, 
the  project  as  unconstitutional.  That  Senator  was  from*  your 
own  state. 

I  have  thus,  fellow  citizens,  exhibited  to  you  a  true  and  faith 
ful  picture  of  executive  power,  as  it  has  been  enlarged  and  ex 
panded  within  the  last  few  years,  and  as  it  has  been  proposed 
further  to  extend  it.  It  overshadows  every  other  branch  of  the 
government.  The  source  of  legislative  power  is  no  longer  to  be 
found  in  the  capital,  but  in  the  palace  of  the  President.  In  as 
suming  to  be  a  part  of  the  legislative  power,  as  the  President  re 
cently  did,  contrary  to  the  constitution,  he  would  have  been 
nearer  the  actual  fact  if  he  had  alledged  that  he  was  the  sole 
legislative  power  of  the  Union.  How  is  it  possible  for  public 
liberty  to  be  preserved,  and  the  constitutional  distributions  of 
power,  among  the  departments  of  government,  to  be  maintained, 
unless  the  executive  career  be  checked  and  restrained  1 

It  may  be  urged  that  two  securities  exist;  first,  that  the  Presi 
dential  term  is  of  short  duration ;  aad,  secondly,  the  elective 
franchise.  But  it  has  been  already  shown  that  whether  a  depo 
sitary  of  power  be  arbitrary  or  compatible  with  liberty  does  not 
depend  upon  the  duration  of  the  official  term,  but  upon  the  amount 
of  power  invested.  The  dictatorship  in  Rome  was  an  office  of 
brjef  existence,  generally  shorter  than  the  Presidential  term. — 
42* 


498  SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA. 

Whether  the  elective  franchise  be  an  adequate  security  or  not, 
is  a  problem  to  be  solved  next  November.  I  hope  and  believe  it 
yet  is.  But  if  Mr.  Van  Buren  should  be  re-elected,  the  power 
already  acquired  by  the  executive  be  retained,  and  that  which  is 
in  progress  be  added  to  that  department,  it  is  my  deliberate  judg 
ment  that  there  will  be  no  hope  remaining  for  the  continuance 
of  the  liberties  of  the  country. 

And  yet  the  partisans  of  this  tremendous  executive  power  ar 
rogate  to  themselves  the  name  of  democrats,  and  bestow  upon 
us,  who  are  opposed  to  it,  the  denomination  of  federalists !  In 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  there  are  five  gentlemen  who 
were  members  of  the  federal  party,  and  four  of  them  have  been 
suddenly  transformed  into  democrats,  and  are  now  warm  sup 
porters  of  this  administration,  whilst  I,  who  had  exerted  the  ut 
most  of  my  humble  abilities  to  arouse  the  nation  to  a  vindication 
of  its  insulted  honor  and  its  violated  rights,  and  to  the  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  war  against  Great  Britain,  to  which  they  were 
violently  opposed,  find  myself,  by  a  sort  of  magical  influence, 
converted  into  a  federalist !  The  only  American  citizen  that  I 
ever  met  with,  who  was  an  avowed  monarchist,  wTas  a  supporter 
of  the  administration  of  Gen.  Jackson ;  and  he  acknowledged  to 
me  that  his  motive  was  to  bring  about  the  system  of  monarchy, 
which  his  judgment  preferred. 

There  were  other  points  of  difference  between  the  federalists 
and  the  democratic  or  rather  republican  party  of  1798,  but  the 
great,  leading,  prominent  discrimination  between  them  related  to 
the  constitution  of  the  executive  department  of  the  government. 
The  federalists  believed  that  in  its  structure,  it  was  too  weak, 
and  was  in  danger  of  being  crushed  by  the  preponderating  weight 
of  the  legislative  branch."  Hence  they  rallied  around  the  execu 
tive,  and  sought  to  give  to  it  strength  and  energy.  A  strong  go 
vernment,  an  energetic  executive  was,  among  them,  the  common 
language  and  the  great  object  of  that  day.  The  republicans,  on 
the°contrary,  believed  that  the  real  danger  lay  on  the  side  of  the 
executive  ;  that,  having  a  continuous  and  uninterrupted  existence, 
it  was  always  on  the  alert,  ready  to  defend  the  power  it  had,  and 
prompt  in  acquiring  more ;  and  that  the  experience  of  history 
demonstrated  that  it  was  the  encroaching  and  usurping  depart 
ment.  They,  therefore,  rallied  around  the  people  and  the  legis 
lature. 

What  are  the  positions  of  the  two  great  parties  of  the  present 
day?  Modern  democracy  has  reduced  the  federal  theory  of  a 
strong  and  energetic  executive  to  practical  operation.  It  has 
turned  from  the  people,  the  natural  ally  of  genuine  democracy, 
to  the  executive,  and,  instead  of  vigilance,  jealousy  and  distrust, 
has  given  to  that  department  all  its  confidence,  and  made  to  it  a 
virtual  surrender  of  all  the  powers  of  government.  The  recog 
nised  maxim  of  royal  infallibility  is  transplanted  from  the  British 
monarchy  into  modern  American  democracy,  and  the  President 
can  do  no  wrong  !  This  new  school  adopts,  modifies,  changes, 


SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA.  499 

renounces,  renews  opinions  at  the  pleasure  of  the  executive.  Is 
the  bank  of  the  United  States  a  useful  and  valuable  institution? 
Yes,  unanimously  pronounces  the  democratic  legislature  of  Penn 
sylvania.  The  President  vetoes  it  as  a  pernicious  and  danger 
ous  establishment.  The  democratic  majority  in  the  same  legis 
lature  pronounce  it  to  be  pernicious  aqd  dangerous.  The  demo 
cratic  majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  declare  the  deposites  of  the  public  money  in  the  bank  of 
the  United  States  to  be  safe.  The  President  says  they  are  un 
safe,  and  removes  them.  The  democracy  say  they  are  unsafe, 
and  approve  the  removal.  The  President  says  that  a  scheme  of 
a  Sub-Treasury  is  revolutionary  and  disorganizing.  The  de 
mocracy  say  it  is  revolutionary  and  disorganizing.  The  Presi 
dent  says  it  is  wise  and  salutary.  The  democracy  say  it  is  wise 
and  salutary. 

The  whigs  of  1840  stand  where  the  republicans  of  1798  stood, 
and  where  the  whigs  of  the  revolution  were,  battling  for  liberty, 
for  the  people,  for  free  institutions,  against  power,  against  cor 
ruption,  against  executive  encroachments,  against  monarchy. 

We  ar£  reproached  with  struggling  for  offices  and  their  emol 
uments.  If  we  acted  on  the  avowed  and  acknowledged  princi 
ple  of  our  opponents,  "  that  the  spoils  belong  to  the  victors,"  we 
should  indeed  be  unworthy  of  the  support  of  the  people.  No  ! 
fellow  citizens ;  higher,  nobler,  more  patriotic  motives  actuate  the 
Whig  party.  Their  object  is  the  restoration  of  the  constitution, 
the  preservation  of  liberty,  and  rescue  of  the  country.  If  they 
were  governed  by  the  sordid  and  selfish  motives  acted  upon  by 
their  opponents,  and  unjustly  imputed  to  them,  to  acquire  office 
and  emolument,  they  have  only  to  change  their  names,  and  en 
ter  the  Presidential  palace.  The  gate  is  always  wide  open,  and 
the  path  is  no  narrow  one  which  leads  through  it.  The  last 
comer,  too,  often  fares  best. 

On  a  resurvey  of  the  few  past  years,  we  behold  enough  to 
sicken  and  sadden  the  hearts  of  true  patriots.  Executive  en 
croachment  has  quickly  followed  upon  executive  encroachment; 
persons  honored  by  public  confidence,  and  from  whom  nothing 
but  grateful  and  parental  measures  should  have  flowed,  have  in 
flicted  stunning  blow  after  blow  in  such  rapid  succession  that, 
before  the  peojale  could  recover  from  the  reeling  effects  of  one, 
another  has  fallen  heavily  upon  them.  Had  either  of  various 
instances  of  executive  misrule  stood  out  separate  and  alone,  so 
that  its  enormity  might  have  been  seen  and  dwelt  upon  with 
composure,  the  condemnation  of  the  executive  would  have  long 
since  been  pronounced ;  but,  it  has  hitherto  found  safety  and  im 
punity  in  the  bewildering  effects  of  the  multitude  of  its  misdeeds. 
The  nation  has  been  in  the  condition  of  a  man  who,  having  gone 
to  bed  after  his  barn  has  been  consumed  by  fire,  is  aroused  in 
the  morning  to  witness  his  dwelling  house  wrapt  in  flames.  So 
bold  and  presumptuous  had  the  executive  become,  that,  penetra 
ting  in  its  influence  the  hall  of  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  gov- 


500  SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA. 

ernment,  by  means  of  a  submissive  or  instructed  majority  of  the 
Senate,  it  has  caused  a  record  of  the  country  to  be  effaced  and 
expunged,  the  inviolability  of  which  was  guarantied  by  a  solemn 
injunction  of  the  constitution  !  And  that  memorable  and  scan 
dalous  scene  was  enacted  only  because  the  offensive  record  con 
tained  an  expression  of  disapprobation  of  an  executive  proceed 
ing. 

If  this  state  of  things  were  to  remain — if  the  progress  of  exe 
cutive  usurpation  were  to  continue  unchecked,  hopeless  despair 
would  seize  the  public  mind,  or  the  people  would  be  goaded  to 
acts  of  open  and  violent  resistance.  But,  thank  God,  the  power 
of  the  President,  fearful  and  rapid  as  its  strides  have  been,  is  not 
yet  too  great  for  the  power  of  the  elective  franchise ;  and  a 
bright  and  glorious  prospect,  in  the  election  of  William  Henry 
Harrison,  has  opened  upon  the  country.  The  necessity  of  a 
change  of  rulers  has  deeply  penetrated  the  hearts  of  the  people; 
and  we  every  where  behold  cheering  manifestations  of  that  hap 
py  event.  The  fact  of  his  election  alone,  without  reference  to 
the  measures  of  his  administration,  will  powerfully  contribute  to 
the  security  and  happiness  of  the  people.  It  will  bring  assurance 
of  the  cessation  of  that  long  series  of  disastrous  experiments 
which  have  so  greatly  afflicted  the  people.  Confidence  will  im 
mediately  revive,  credit  be  restored,  active  business  will  return, 
prices  of  products  will  rise  ;  and  the  people  will  feel  and  know 
that,  instead  of  their  servants  being  occupied  in  devising  mea 
sures  for  their  ruin  and  destruction,  they  will  be  assiduously  em 
ployed  in  promoting  their  welfare  and  prosperity. 

But  grave  and  serious  measures  will,  unquestionably,  early 
and  anxiously  command  the  earnest  attention  of  the  new  ad 
ministration.  I  have  no  authority  to  announce,  and  do  not  pre 
tend  to  announce  the  purposes  of  the  new  President.  I  have  no 
knowledge  of  them  other  than  that  which  is  accessible  to  every 
citizen.  In  what  I  shall  say  as  to  the  course  of  a  new  adminis 
tration,  therefore,  I  mean  to  express  my  own  sentiments,  to  speak 
for  myself,  without  compromitting  any  other  person.  Upon  such 
an  interesting  occasion  as  this  is,  in  the  midst  of  the  companions 
of  my  youth,  or  their  descendants,  I  have  felt  that  it  is  due  to 
them  and  to  myself  explicitly  to  declare  my  sentiments,  without 
reserve,  and  to  show  that  I  have  been,  and,  as  I  sincerely  believe, 
the  friends  with  whom  I  have  acted  have  been,  animated  by  the 
disinterested  desire  to  advance  the  best  interests  of  the  country, 
and  to  preserve  its  free  institutions. 

The  first,  and  in  my  opinion,  the  most  important  object  which 
should  engage  the  serious  attention  of  a  new  administration,  is 
t&at  of  circumscribing  the  executive  power,  and  throwing  around 
it  such  limitations  and  safe-guards  as  will  render  it  no  longer 
dangerous  to  the  public  liberties. 

Whatever  is  the  work  of  man  necessarily  partakes  of  his  im 
perfections  ;  and  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that,  with  all  the  ac 
knowledged  wisdom  and  virtues  of  the  framers  of  our  constitu- 


SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA.  501 

tion,  they  could  have  sent  forth  a  plan  of  government,  so  free 
from  all  defect,  and  so  full  of  guaranties ;  that  it  should  not,  in 
the  conflict  of  embittered  parties  and  of  excited  passions,  be  per 
verted  and  misinterpreted.  Misconceptions  or  erroneous  con 
structions  of  the  powers  granted  in  the  constitution  would  prob 
ably  have  occurred,  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  in  seasons  of 
entire  calm,  and  with  a  regular  and  temperate  administration  of 
the  government ;  but,  during  the  last  twelve  years,  the  machine, 
driven  by  a  reckless  charioteer  with  frightful  impetuosity,  haa 
been  greatly  jarred  and  jolted,  and  it  needs  careful  examination, 
and  a  thorough  repair. 

With  the  view,  therefore,  to  the  fundamental  character  of  the  government  iUself, 
and  especially  of  the  executive  branch,  it  seems  to  me  that,  either  by  amendments  of 
the  constitution,  when  they  are  necessary,  or  by  remedial  legislation,  when  the  ob 
ject  falls  within  the  scope  of  the  powers  of  Congress,  there  should  be, 

1st.  A  provision  to  render  a  person  ineligible  to  the  office  of  President  of  th» 
United  States  after  a  sevice  of  one  term. 

Much  observation  and  deliberate  reflection  have  satisfied  me  that  too  much  of  the 
time,  the  thoughts  and  the  exertions  of  the  incumbent,  are  occupied,  during  his  first 
term',  in  securing  his  re-election.  The  public  business,  consequently  suffers,  and 
measures  are  proposed  or  executed  with  less  regard  to  the  general  prosperity  than  to 
their  influence  upon  the  approaching  election.  If  the  limitation  to  one  term  existed, 
the  President  would  be  exclusively~devoted  to  the  discharge  of  his  public  duties  ; 
and  he  would  endeavor  to  signalize  his  administration  by  the  beneficence  and  wis 
dom  of  its  measures. 

2d.  That  the  veto  power  should  be  more  precisely  defined,  and  be  subjected  to 
further  limitations  and  qualifications.  Although  a  large,  perhaps  the  largest,  pro 
portion  of  all  the  acts  of  Congress,  passed  at  the  short  session  of  Congress,  since  the 
commencement  of  the  government,  were  passed  within  the  three  last  days  of  the 
session,  and  when  of  course,  the  President  for  the  time  being  had  not  the  ten  days  for 
consideration  allowed  by  the  constitution,  President  Jackson,  availing  himself  of  that 
allowance,  has  failed  to  return  important  bills.  When  not  returned  by  the  President 
within  the  ten  days,  it  is  questionable  whether  they  are  laws  or  not.  It  is  very  cei- 
tain  that  the  next  Congress  cannot  act  upon  them  by  deciding  whether  or  not  they 
shall  become  laws,  the  President's  objections  notwithstanding.  All  this  ought  to  be' 
provided  for. 

At  present,  a  bill,  returned  by  the  President,  can  only  become  a  law  by  the  con 
currence  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  each  house.  I  think  if  Congress  passes  a 
bill  after  discussion  and  consideration,  and,  after  weighing  the  objections  of  the 
President,  still  believes  it  ought  to  pass,  it  should  become  a  law,  provided  a  majority 
of  all  the  members  of  each  house  concur  in  its  passage.  If  the  weight  of  his  argu 
ment,  and  the  weight  of  his  influence  conjointly,  cannot  prevail  on  a  majority, 
against  their  previous  convictions,  in  my  opinion  the  bill  ought  not  to  be  arrested. 
Such  is  the  provision  of  the  constitutions  of  several  of  the  states,  and  that  of  Kentucky 
among  them. 

3d.  That  the  power  of  dismission  from  oflice  should  be  restricted,  and  the  exercise 
of  it  be  rendered  responsible. 

The  constitutional  concurrence  of  the  Senate  is  necessary  to  the  confirmation  of 
all  important  appointments,  but,  without  consulting  the  Senate,  without  any  other 
motive  than  resentment  or  caprice,  the  President  may  dismiss,,  at  his  sole  pleasure, 
an  oflicer  created  by  the  joint  action  of  himself  and  the  Senate.  The  practical  effect 
is  to  nullify  the  agency  of  the  Senate.  There  may  be.  occasionally,  cases  in  which 
the  public  interest  requires  an  immediate  dismission  without  waiting  for  the  assem 
bling  of  the  Senate  ;  but,  in  all  such  cases,  the  President  should  be  bound  to  commu 
nicate  fully  the  grounds  and  motives  of  the  dismission.  The  power  would  be  thus 
rendered  responsible.  Without  it,  tfae  exercise  of  the  power  is  utterly  repugnant  to 
free  institutions,  the  basis  of  which  is  perfect  responsibility,  and  dangerous- to  the 
public  liberty,  as  has  been  already  shown. 

4th.  That  the  control  over  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  should  be  confided  and 
confined  exclusively  to  Congress;  and  all  authority  of  the  President  o\er  it,  by 
means  of  dismissing  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  or  other  persons  having  the  imme 
diate  charge  of  it,  be  rigorously  precluded. 

You  have  heard  much,  fellow  citizens,  of  the  divorce  of  banks  and  government. 
After  crippling  them  and  impairing  their  utility,  the  executive  and  its  partisans  have 
systematically  denounced  them.  The  executive  and  the  country  were  warned  again 
and  again  of  the  fata]  course  that  haa  been  pursued  ;  but  the  executive  nevertheUw 


502  SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA. 

persevered,  commencing  by  praising  and  ending  by  decrying  the  state  banks* 
Under  cover  of  the  smoke  which  has  been  raised,  the  real  object  all  alons  has  been, 
and  yet  is,  to  obtain  the  possession  pf  the  money  power  of  the  Union.  That  accom 
plished  and  sanctioned  by  the  people—the  union  of  the  sword  and  the  purse  in  the 
hands  of  the  President  effectually  secured— and  farewell  to  American  liberty.  The 
sub-treasury  is  the  scheme  for  effecting  that  union;  and  I  am  told,  that  of  all  the  days 
in  the  year,  that  which  gave  birth  to  our  national  existence  and  freedom,  is  the  se 
lected  day  to  be  disgraced  by  ushering  into  existence  a  measure,  imminently  perilous 
to  the  liberty  which,  on  that  anniversary,  we  commemorate  in  joyous  festivals. 
Thus,  in  the  spirit  of  destruction  which  animates  our  rulers,  would  they  convert  a 
day  of  gladness  and  of  glory  into  a  day  .of  sadness  and  mourning.  Fellow  citizens, 
there  is  one  divorce  urgently  demanded  by  the  safety  and  the  highest  interests  of  the 
country— a  divorce  of  the  President  from  the  treasury  of  the  United  States. 

And  5th.  That  the  appointment  of  members  of  Congress  to  any  office,  or  any  but  a 
few  specific  offices,  during  their  continuance  in  office,  and  for  one  year  thereafter,  be 
prohibited. 

This  is  a  hacknied  theme,  but  it  is  not  less  deserving  serious  consideration.  The 
constitution  now  interdicts  the  appointment  of  a  member  of  Congress  to  any  office 
created,  or  the  emoluments  of  which  had  been  increased  whilst  he  was  in  office.  In 
the  purer  days  of  the  republic,  that  restriction  might  have  been  sufficient,  but  in  these 
more  degeiierate  times,  it  is  necessary,  by  an  amendment  of  the  constitution,  to  give 
the  principle  a  greater  extent. 

These  are  the  subjects,  in  relation  to  the  permanent  character  of  the  government 
itself,  which,  it  seems  to  me,  are  worthy  of  the  serious  attention  of  the  people,  and  of 
a  new  administration.  There  are  others,  of  an  administrative  nature,  which  require 
prompt  and  careful  consideration. 

1st.  The  currency  of  the  country,  its  stability  and  uniform  value,  and,  as  intimate 
ly  and  indissolubly  connected  with  it,  the  insurance  of  the  faithful  performance  of 
the  fiscal  services  necessary  to  the  government,  should  be  maintained  and  secured 
by  exercising  all  the  powers  requisite  to  those  objects  with  which  Congress  is  consti 
tutionally  invested.  These  are  the  great  ends  to  be  aimed  at— the  means  are  of  sub 
ordinate  importance.  Whether  these  ends,  indispensable  to  the  well-being  of  both 
the  people  and  the  government,  are  to  be  attained  by  sound  and  safe  state  banks, 
carefully  selected,  and  properly  distributed,  or  by  a  new  bank  of  the  United  States, 
with  such  limitations,  conditions,  and  restrictions,  as  have  been,  indicated  by  experi 
ence,  should  be  left  to  the  arbitrament  of  enlightened  public  opinion. 

Car-dor  and  truth  require  me  to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  whilst  banks  continue  to 
exist  in  the  country,  the  services  of  a  bank  of  the  United  States  cannot  be  safely  dis 
pensed  with.  I  think  that  the  power  to  establish  such  a  bank  is  a  settled  question  ; 
settled  by  Washington  and  by  Madison,  by  the  people,  by  forty  years' acquiescence, 
"by  the  judiciary,  and  by  both  of  the  great  parties  which  so  long  held  sway  in  this 
country.  I  know  and  1  respect  the  contrary  opinion,  which  is  entertained  in  thts 
state.  But,  in  my  deliberate  view  of  the  matter,  the  power  to  establish  such  a  bank 
being  settled,  and"  being  a  necessary  and  proper  power,  the  only  question  is  as  to  the 
expediency  of  its  exercise.  And  on  questions  of  mere  expediency  public  opinion 
ought  to  have  a  controlling  influence.  Without  banks,  I  believe  we  cannot  have  a 
sufficient  currency ;  without  a  bank  of  the  United  States,  I  fear  we  cannot  have  a 
sound  currency.  But  it  is  the  end,  that  of  a  sound  and  sufficient  currency,  and  a 
faithful  execution  of  the  fiscal  duties  of  government,  that  should  engage  the  dispas 
sionate  and  candid  consideration  of  the  whole  community.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
name  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States  which  has  any  magfcal  charm,  or  to  which  any 
one  need  be  wedded.  It  is  to  secure  certain  great  objects,  without  which  society  can 
not  prosper;  and  if,  contrary  to  my  apprehension,  these  objects  can  be  accomplished 
by  dispensing  with  the  asency  of  a"  bank  of  the  United  States,  and  employing  that  of 
state  banks,  all  ought  to  >ejoice,  and  heartily  acquiesce,  and  none  would  more  than  1 
should. 

2d.  That  the  public  lands,  in  conformity  with  the  trusts  created  expressly,  or  by 
just  implication,  on  their  acquisition,  be  administered  in  a  ?pirit  of  liberality  toward.1* 
the  new  states  and  territories,  and  in  a  spiritof  justice  towards  all  the  states. 

The  land  bill  which  was  rejected  by  President  Jackson,  and  acts  of  occasional  legis 
lation,  will  accomplish  both  these  objects.  I  regret  that  the  time  does  not  admit  of 
my  exposing  here  the  nefarious  plans  and  purposes  of  the  administration  as  to  thii 
vast  national  resource.  That,  like  every  other  great  interest  of  the  country,  is  ad 
ministered  with  the  sole  view  of  the  effect  upon  the  interests  of  the  party  in  power. 
A  bill  has  passed  the  Senate,  and  is  now  pending  before  the  House,  according  to 
which  forty  millions  of  dollars  are  stricken  from  the  real  value  of  a  certain  portion  of 
the  public  lands  by  a  short  process  ;  and  a  citizen  of  Virginia,  residing  on  the  south 
west  side  of  the  Ohio,  is  not  allowed  to  purchase  lands  as  cheap,  by  half  a  dollar  pet 
acre,  as  a  citizen  living  on  the  northwest  side  of  that  river.  I  have  no  hesitation  ia 


SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA.  .503 

expressing  my  conviction  that  the  whole  public  domain  is  gone  if  Mr.  Van  Buren 
be  re-elected. 

3d.  Tbat  the  policy  of  protecting  and  encouraging  the  productions  of  American  in 
dustry,  entering  into  competition  with  the  rival  productions  of  foreie'n  industry,  be 
adhered  to  and  maintained  on  the  basis  of  the  principles  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  com 
promise  of  March,  1833. 

•Protection  and  national  independence  are,  in  my  opinion,  identical  ahd  synony 
mous.  The  principle  of  abandonment  of  the  one  cannot  be  surrendered  without  a 
forfeiture  of  the  other.  Who,  with  just  pride  and  national  sensibility,  can  think  of 
subjecting  the  products  of  our  industry  to  all  the  taxation  and  restraints  of  foreign 
powers,  without  effort,  on  our  part,  to  counteract  their  prohibitions  and  burdens  by 
suitable  countervailing  legislation  1  The  question  cannot  be,  ought  not  to  be,  one  of 
principle,  but  of  measure  and  degree.  I  adopt  that  of  the  compromise  act,  not  be 
cause  that  act  is  irrepealable,  but  because  it  met  with  the  sanction  of  the  nation. 
Stability,  with  moderate  and  certain  protection,  is  far  more  important  than  instabil 
ity,  the  necessary  consequence  of  high  protection.  But  the  protection  of  the  compro 
mise  act  will  be  adequate,  in  most,  if  not  as  to  all  interests.  The  twenty  per  cent, 
which  it  stipulates,  cash  duties,  home  valuations,  and  the  list  of  free  articles  inserted 
in  the  act,  for  the  particular  advantage  of  the  manufacturer,  will  ensure,  1  trust,  suffi 
cient  protection.  All  together,  they  will  amount  probably  to  no  less  than  thirty  per 
cent.,  a  greater  extent  of  protection  than  was  secured  prior  to  the  act  of  1828,  which 
no  one  stands  up  to  defend.  Now  the  valuation  of  foreign  goods  is  made  not  by  the 
American  authority,  except  in  suspected  cases,  but  by  foreigners,  and  abroad.  They 
assess  the  value,  and  we  the  duty;  but  as  the  duty  depends,  in  most  cases,  upon  the 
value,  it  is  manifest  that  those,  who  assess  the  value,  fix  the  duty.  The  home  valua 
tion  will  give  our  government  what  it  rightfully  possesses,  both  the  power  \,t  ascertain 
the  true  value  of  the  thing  which  it  taxes,  as  well  as  the  amount  of  that  tax. 

4th.  That  a  strict  and  wise  economy,  in  the  disbursement  of  the  public  money,  be 
steadily  enforced ;  and  that,  to  that  end,  all  useless  establishments,  all  unnecessary 
offices  and  places,  foreign  and  domestic,  and  all  extravagance,  either  in  the  collec 
tion  or  expenditure  of  the  public  revenue,  be  abolished  and  repressed. 

I  have  not  time  to  dwell  on  details  in  the  application  of  this  principle.  I  will  say 
that  a  pruning  knife,  long,  broad,  and  sharp,  should  be  applied  to  every  department 
of  the  government.  There  is  abundant  scope  for  honest  and  skilful  surgery.  The 
annual  expenditure  may,  in  reasonable  time,  be  brought  down  from  its  present 
amount  of  about  forty  millions  to  near  one-third  of  that  sum. 

5th.  The  several  states  have  made  such  great  and  gratifying  progress  in  their  re 
spective  systems  of  internal  improvement,  and  have  been  so  aided  by  the  distribution 
under  the  deposite  act,  that,  in  future,  the  erection  of  new  roads  and  canals  should  be 
left  to  them  with  such  further  aid  only  from  the  general  government  as  they  would 
derive  from  the  payment  of  the  last  instalment  under  that  act,  from  an  absolute  re- 
linquishment  of  the  right  of  Congress  to  call  upon  them  to  refund  the  previous  in 
stalments,  and  from  their  equal  and  just  quotas,  to  be  received  by  a  future  distribu 
tion  of  the  nett  proceeds  from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands. 

And6:h.  That  the  right  to  slave  property,  being  guarantied  by  the  constitution, 
and  recognized  as  one  of  the  compromise  incorporated  in  that  instrument  by  our  an 
cestors,  should  be  left  where  the  constitution  has  placed  it,  undisturbed  and  unagi- 
tated  by  Congress. 

These,  fellow  citizens,  are  views  both  of  the  structure  of  the  government  and  of  its 
administration,  which  appear  to  me  worthy  of  commanding  the  grave  attention  of  the 
public  and  its  new  servants.  Although,  I  repeat,  1  have  neither  authority  nor  pur 
pose  to  commit  any  body  else,  I  believe  most,  if  not  all  of  them,  are  entertained  by 
the  political  friends  with  whom  I  have  acted.  Whether  the  salutary  reforms  which 
they  include  will  be  effected  or  considered  depends  upon  the  issue  of  that  great 
struggle  which  is  now  going  on  throughout  all  this  country.  This  contest  has  had  no 
parallel  since  the  period  of  the  revolution.  In  both  instances  there  is  a  similarity  of 
object.  That  was  to  achieve,  this  is  to  preserve  the  liberties  of  the  country.  Let  us 
catch  the  spirit  which  animated,  and  imitate  the  virtues  which  adorned  our  noble 
ancestors.  Their  devotion,  their  constancy,  their  untiring  activity,  their  perseve 
rance,  their  indomitable  resolution,  their  sacrifices,  their  valor  !  If  they  fought  for 
liberty  or  death,  in  the  memorable  language  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  them,  let 
us  never  forget  that  the  prize  now  at  ba'zard  is  liberty  or  slavery.  We  should  be 
encouraged  by  the  fact  that  the  contest  to  the  success  of  which  they  solemnly  pledged 
their  fortunes,  their  lives,  and  their  sacred  honor,  was  far  more  unequal  than  that  in 
which  we  are  engaged.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  let  us  cautiously  guard  against  too 
much  confidence.  History  and  experience  prove  that  more  has  been  lost  by  self 
confidence  and  contempt  of  enemies,  than  won  by  skill  and  courage.  Our  opponents 
are  powerful  in  numbers  and  in  orgauization,  active,  insidious,  possessed  of  ample 
means,  and  wholly  unscrupulous  in  the  use  of  them.  They  count  upon  success  bj 
the  use  of  two  words,  democracy  and  federalism — democracy  which,  in  violation  of 


504  SPEECH  AT  HANOVER,  VA, 

all  ifnth,  they  appropriate'  to  themselves,  and  federalism  which,  in  violation  cf  all 
justice,  they  apply  to  us.  And  allow  me  to  conjure  you  not  to  suffer  yourselves  to  be 
diverted,  deceived,  or  discouraged  by  the  false  rumors  which  will  be  industriously 
circulated,  between  the  present  time  and  the  period  of  the  election,  by  our  opponents. 
They  will  put  them  forth  in  every  variety,  and  without  number,  in  the  most  imposing 
forms,  certified  and  sworn  to  by  conspicuous  names.  They  will  brae,  they  will  boast, 
they  will  threaten.  Regardless  of  all  their  arts,  let  us  keep  steadily  and  faithfully 
and  fearlessly  at  work. 

But  if  the  opposition  perform  its  whole  duty,  if  every  member  of  it  act  as  in  the 
celebrated  battle  of  Lord  Nelson,  if  the  eyes  of  the  whole  nation  were  fixed  on  him, 
and  as  iC  on  his  sole  exertions  depended  the  issue  of  the  day,  I  sincerely  believe  that 
at  leasttwenty  pflhe  states  of  the  Union  will  unite  in  the  glorious  work  of  the  salva 
tion  of  the  constitution  and  the  redemption  of  the  country. 

Friends  and  fellow  citizens,  I  have  detained  you  too  long.  Accept  my  cordial 
thanks  and  my  profound  acknowledgments  for  the  honors  of  this  day,  and  for  all 
your  feelings  of  attachment  and  confidence  towards  me;  and  allow  me  in  conclu 
sion,  to  propose  a  sentiment : 

Hanover  county :  it  was  the  first,  in  the  commencement  of  the  revolution,  to  raise 
Us  arms,  under  the  lead  of  Patrick  Henry,  in  defence  of  American  liberty ;  itwill  be 
the  last  to  prove  false  or  recreant  to  the  holy  cause. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


HOV22196532 

SEKT  ON  *tt 

!       \ 

REG  D 

ILC.  BERKELEY       j 

UtU7~'65-8A& 

LOAN  DEPT. 

S  EN  •  u^  mt 

JAN  2  i»  2003 

U.  C.  BERKELEY 

MAR  28  1967  15 

RE<-  '^ 

it  ii     *J  tZ  tp"?     f    D 

/I 

JUL  lo  6/~5  r 

n 

LOAN  DEPT. 

LD  2lA-60m-3,'65 
(F2336slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


Yb  45571 


•  E34 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


